A Boy And His Meteor
by CrazyClouds
Summary: Life changed when the meteor hit Pallet Town...
1. Chapter 1

**In the Earth's Stratosphere**

A serpentine, green dragon with two arms and red-and-yellow markings, was flying thousands of feet above the ground. This was Rayquaza, the Sky-High Legendary Dragon, and also the self-proclaimed protector of this planet from extraterrestrial threats, as one of the few Legendaries who was both awake and capable of traveling so high up.

So when he saw a meteor hurtling towards the Earth, he acted in his capacity as the guardian, and hunted it down.

Rayquaza fired a quickly-charged Hyper Beam, successfully splitting the rock in half. Another Hyper Beam was launched, but only skimmed one of the halves, sending it spiralling uncontrollably toward the planet's surface. Rayquaza, arrogant as he was, assumed that the spray of rock and dust from the collision meant the comet was destroyed. He turned his attention to the other half, which had gained a bit of distance during his previous engagement,

With a roar of challenge, the Legendary Dragon gave chase, a hunt which would eventually lead him to the freezing North Pole and an epic battle. The dragon ignored the mostly unscathed- and now unchecked- half of the asteroid.

Said meteor was now speeding toward the land- specifically, a continent known as the Kanto region.

* * *

Life changed when the meteor struck Pallet Town.

Professor Samuel Oak was intrigued; it had been many years since a meteor came down to Earth, and certainly never in this small, out-of-the-way town.

Young Gary Oak thought it was the coolest thing ever. He had heard of many comets touching down in Veilstone City, but that was all the way in the Sinnoh region, a place he wouldn't be able to go to until he was older. He figured it was fate's way of making it up to him.

Delia Ketchum's world was rocked- literally since the rock landed only a quarter-mile from her house. The soot and dust from the explosion traveled all the way to her modest house, painting the side of the building gray.

Eight-year-old Ash Ketchum lay dying. He had been in the woods, bare yards away from the asteroid when it came crashing down from the heavens. He had heard the whistling as it fell, saw that it was coming directly at him, and tried to run. Unfortunately, his young body simply was not fast enough, and the concussive force overtook him. The boy was smashed through two fully grown trees, breaking just about every bone in his body, and a branch was sticking out from his chest.

The pain was so great the young Ash could no longer even feel it, his nerves all burned out from the instantaneous stimulation. Instead, he lay there, watching as a… _thing_ , with a glowing green chest, emerged from the meteor, fear creeping into him as this unknown creature turned its head to face him.

Little did he know, that this strange life form would give Ash a second chance.

* * *

Deoxys was confused, to say the least. One moment, him and his sister had been sleeping in their space-rock, lazily drifting through the void, and the next, they were being blasted by a flying green tentacle, and the two were separated. Unfortunately, Deoxys could not form a solid body while in the meteor, surrounded as it was by dense rock, so had to wait until the impact blew the meteor up. And boy, what an impact.

The alien life form had seen the young human who was likely killed by it, and wondered why the small creature was out here all alone, with no other signs of life within the immediate vicinity. Was it also a solitary existence, like himself and his sister? Shunned by his race?

Deoxys felt a pang of pity in his core. He knew the pain of being cast out- it was why him and his sister were in that asteroid in the first place. They had been overpowered by several other members of their race, their physical bodies being disintegrated, and their cores shoved into a rock that was launched to who-knows-where. All because they happened to be a bit stronger than average, and those other Deoxys were jealous.

Curious, and also a tad guilty- because death was not better than solitude- Deoxys hovered over to where the boy had landed. He was surprised to see the youngling still alive; he had thought that by their pink fleshy skin, they were much more vulnerable. Yet, here the boy was, alive… Though not particularly well.

Deoxys may not have known much about this species, but he could tell that things were not supposed to stick through someone's chest, regardless of race.

The extraterrestrial knelt down, examining the young creature in what may be its final moments. The boy's half-lidded eyes connected with his own unblinking ones, and Deoxys knew he had to at least try to help. It was not right for this small native to suffer from his own actions, regardless of the fact that they were out of his control.

The biggest problem Deoxys saw at the moment was the large stick piercing Ash's sternum. He had no clue that there was internal damage, due to lack of prior knowledge on this species' anatomy. So, the alien turned his red and blue tentacles into a hand, grabbed hold of the branch, and yanked it out in one smooth motion.

Deoxys knew something was wrong when the boy cried out in pain, and a crimson liquid began spilling out from the hole at an alarming rate. Ash groped at his chest for a few moments, before falling still, causing the extraterrestrial to panic. Was this young one unable to regenerate? _Could_ this species even regenerate like the Deoxys?

Understanding that he had to at least plug up that gaping hole, Deoxys stuck a tentacle into Ash's chest, attempting to form his hand into a shape which would completely block the flow of red.

It worked. A bit _too_ well.

The tentacle took the jagged, abnormal shape of the opening, and was promptly absorbed by the human. Unfortunately, since the limb was still connected to Deoxys, that meant he, too, was also sucked into the young native after a few moments of shocked inaction.

In a roundabout way, the combining of boy and alien did work, as the hole in Ash's chest was quickly sealed up by fast-growing muscle and flesh.

* * *

A few minutes later, young Ash Ketchum woke up. He climbed to his feet unsteadily, taking in his surroundings. His near-death hadn't been a dream. Ash saw his ripped, bloody shirt, the blood-stained piece of lumber, and the area of the forest which had been completely leveled by that space rock.

What he did _not_ see- a fact which worried him- was the thing that came out the meteor.

Did it leave? What if it was just hiding, watching and waiting to kill him? Or what if it followed him home and killed the other townspeople, too? A shiver ran down the boy's spine at the thought. Let it be noted that the young boy had watched quite a few horror movies when staying over at friends' house.

" _I am here, young one."_

"AH!" Ash leapt a foot into the air, and began spinning around like a Hitmontop, scanning the perimeter for the source of the voice.

" _You cannot see me, young one, for I am not out there."_

Ash stopped swiveling, but did not calm in the slightest. If he couldn't see it, was it invisible? He had heard of Pokemon vanishing when they used Feint attack.

" _No, I am not using… 'Feint'. I am in you, young one."_

The boy's brain slowed down a bit, taking some time to process that.

" _IN_ ME!?" He shouted, voice full of fear and confusion.

" _Do relax, young one. I am not here to hurt you- in fact, I was the one that saved your life."_

Ash took a moment to remember how he had been flung through two fairly thick trees, and the length of wood which had pierced his chest before he passed out. Now that he wasn't in any immediate danger- or, at least, didn't _seem_ to be- Ash was able to process just how close to death he probably had been. There was no possible way he could have survived that, not without the outside help the strange creature claimed to have provided.

"...Oh. Well, thanks, I guess…" He mumbled, then remembered a very important thing. "Wait! How did you end up _in_ me!?"

" _...That was a mistake. I had merely meant to fill the hole in your chest, but was instead completely absorbed. On the bright side, you will survive."_

"Yeah, but there's a… an _alien_ in me! Do you know how these kinds of things end!? With that alien bursting out through my chest, so I'll die anyways!"

Deoxys took a moment to sift through Ash's memories, a result of their newly-conjoined status and his own Psychic powers, and was quite astonished.

" _Oh my. What kind of… 'movies' does your species create?"_

"Good ones. And why did you stop like that when you said movies?"

" _In case you have already forgotten, I_ am _a so-called alien to your kind, so it is obvious that we do not have quite the same technology."_

"Oh… right. So, you _aren't_ gonna burst out of my chest like a freak?"

" _I will do my best to prevent it."_ Deoxys replied dryly.

"Alright. By the way, what's your name? I'm Ash Ketchum, and I live in Pallet Town, which is right over there." Ash pointed towards the area, which was no doubt filled with panicking citizens- not that the boy knew of that right now.

" _A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town. I cannot reply in kind, since the members of my species do not have individual names, nor does my home planet have one. It was determined by my ancestors that such things were too sentimental, and therefore unnecessary."_

"Doesn't that get confusing, though?" Ash interrupted.

" _It does, but the elder members of my species were too stuck in their ways to change."_

"...That doesn't sound too nice. Everyone needs a name! How else will their friends address them without saying 'Hey, you!' or something rude like that? At the very least, what's the name of your species?"

" _We are called the Deoxys. You can address me as such, since the likelihood of running into another of my kind, except my sister, is very slim."_

"No! That's like you calling me 'Human', even though my name's Ash. I'll just come up with a name for you, then- but first, I gotta get back home and tell my mom I'm fine… I think. I'll think of something along the way, so just hang tight, bud!"

Deoxys felt an inexplicable tingle of warmth in his core, which should have been impossible since the Deoxys didn't exactly have nerves. He chalked it up to weirdness from being combined with a… human, as Ash called it.

After a few minutes of bumbling through the forest, Ash finally caught sight of his house. It looked alright, except for the fact that the side was entirely covered in dust- but that would wash off the next time it rained.

The young human boy had just stepped onto his front porch, when he shot a fist into the air, a triumphant grin on his face.

"I've got it! I'll call you… Diorook- Dio for short!"

* * *

 **A pokemon fanfic, because why not? I've accepted the fact that I'll never properly finish a story, but I can at least come up with some crazy original ideas to hopefully inspire a new breed of like-minded writers. I may even be willing to allow some people to adopt my stories, if I think they have the skills for it. Don't think this means I'm automatically abandoning all my stories, though. I'll still update if I feel like it, I'll just probably be working on something new most of the time. K Bai.**


	2. Chapter 2

"Ash, honey, who is Diorook and _oh my god why are you covered in blood_!?"

Ash was broken out of his moment of victory by the question-turned-shriek from his mother, and he stared at her blankly for a moment. Then he glanced down and remembered that, oh yeah, he nearly died just now.

"Listen Mom, I can explain… This… Uh. Isn't mine?"

Delia Ketchum calmed down for a moment, contemplating just how her son could be so bad at lying, before grabbing him by an ear and wrenching it, _hard_.

"Ow!"

"Ash Satoshi Ketchum, do _not_ lie to me, especially not about something like this! What happened to you and _what the fuck is that_!?"

"Mom!" Ash cried, taken aback by the sudden swear from the normally pleasant woman. He noticed she was pointing at the rip in his shirt, and was momentarily confused. At least, until he lifted up the tattered fabric and noticed the pulsating crystal which protruded from his chest.

"Uh… Uh!?"

Frozen in shock, the Ketchums simply stared at the glowing rock, until Diorook spoke up in the son's mind.

" _Don't worry, Ash. That's my core, and it's keeping us both alive right now. I've studied the way your body works, and it seems that some of your vital organs were destroyed or heavily damaged, and need to be fixed. Luckily for us, my core is powerful enough to sustain us both while I do repairs, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about."_

"Uh!?"

" _Nevermind, just… Go to sleep for now. The process will be quite uncomfortable, and I don't need your screaming interrupting my concentration before I accidentally put something in the wrong place."_

And with that, Ash Ketchum passed out, while Delia Ketchum's scream was heard throughout Pallet Town.

The townspeople would arrive minutes later to find mother and son unconscious on the hardwood floor of the modest Ketchum residence.

* * *

A few days later, Ash finally woke up in a hospital room, aroused by the beeping of a heart monitor. His impromptu coma had panicked the local healers of Pallet Town, so they transported him to the Viridian Hospital, the closest medical center.

He blearily opened his eyes, then closed them quickly. The sanitary white of his room was near blinding when combined with the afternoon sun streaming through the open curtains. The boy tried again after a few moments, taking care to do so slowly this time. He was not very excited about losing his sight at only eight years old.

Finally, Ash could see his surroundings, but only by squinting. He made to get up to close the shades, but stopped when he felt something tug against his arm. Looking down, he saw a tube feeding into his arm, kept in place by a patch of white tape. Confused, the young boy poked at it. This was his first visit to the hospital, so he had never seen an IV drip up close.

Therefore, he also did not know that he should _not_ rip it out violently… Which he did. His cry of surprise alerted a passing nurse, who stuck her head into the room. She saw him, gasped, and ran back out to get the doctor.

Ash was too busy busy panicking over the constant blood flow coming from where the needle had been inserted. His hysteria caused Diorook to stir from his slumber, tired as he was after fixing up his new host.

" _So, you're finally awake?"_

"Ah! Dio, where am I!?"

" _Calm down, you're perfectly safe. We were transported to what is called the 'Viridian Hospital', which I have learned is the place where injured humans receive medical care. Not that these 'doctors' were able to help you much…"_

"What do you mean, they didn't help? How else would I be awake?"

" _That would be because of me. If you remember, I told you I was going to have to completely reform some of your organs, right before I put you to sleep."_

"Oh… right. By the way, how did that go?"

Diorook hesitated to answer. " _About that…"_

Fortunately, he was saved by the doctor rushing into the room. He was a tall man, with an eyepatch covering his left eye, and his shockingly-white hair was standing up in a way which defied gravity.

"Mr. Ketchum, it is wonderful to see you awake! How are you feeling? Any pains, dizziness, nausea? Anything of that sort?" The doctor questioned, taking Ash off-guard by the intensity.

"Uh, I'm fine. Nothing feels weird, but my arm hurts from when I pulled that thing out…"

The doctor chuckled. "Yes, well, we tend to warn our patients against that, but since you woke up without anyone around… Nevermind that- it seems I've forgotten to introduce myself! I'm Doctor Hatake. A pleasure to meet the conscious you, young man."

"Heh, I'm Ash Ketchum, but you can just call me Ash! It's nice to meet you, too, and thanks for taking care of me!"

"It was no problem." Doctor Hatake replied, smiling. It was always nice to find a respectful youngster; they were just so rare these days.

"Hey, Doctor Hatake… How long have I been asleep for?" Ash asked.

The doctor grew a bit somber. "I'm sorry to tell you this, Ash, but… it's been five years."

The young boy's eyes widened to the size of plates. "Wha-What!? There's no way! I haven't grown at all!"

"Well, when you're asleep for that long, you can't take in the proper nutrients which will help you grow. As a result, you may remain this size for the rest of your life."

The boy was shocked into silence, his hanging mouth only able to let out odd sounds of disbelief. He didn't want to stay the same size forever! He was small, even for an eight-year-old!

Finally, Doctor Hatake could not hold it in any longer, and startled the boy with his loud, booming laughter. As he continued laughing, it finally dawned on the boy that the doctor had simply been making a joke. He let out a nervous chuckle, thankful it was just a prank.

" _You know, you could have just asked_ me _,"_ Dio put in.

"Alright, you got me. But, seriously, how long have I been here?"

"Five days- and you'll likely be staying for another few, just so we can run tests to make sure you're truly alright before letting you head back home. There are some strange things we need to take a look at, like that huge stone in your chest which somehow disappeared. We didn't bother it while you were asleep, since we had no clue what it would do to you, but we're gonna have to figure that out now. That sound good?"

Ash pondered it for a moment, glancing down his hospital gown to ascertain the doctor's claim, then agreeing that it was probably for the best. "...Okay. But can you call my mom? I wanna talk to her."

Hatake nodded as he got up to leave. "She's actually here, so I'll go get her from the waiting room. I'll be back in another hour or so to let you two catch before we start the medical examination. See you in a bit, Ash."

"Later, Doctor Hatake!"

* * *

Delia Ketchum stormed into the hospital room with enough force to cow Giratina himself. Thankfully for her son, she calmed down upon seeing that her precious baby was awake, and certainly not dead.

Ash opened his mouth to greet his mother, but choked when he was pulled into a bone-crushing hug. He felt the shoulder of his hospital gown grow wet, and realized his mother was crying. This was not an entirely shocking revelation, since Delia had always been a rather sensitive woman, unable to keep her stronger emotions, such as sorrow, in check.

However, it was startling for the young boy, as it slowly dawned upon him that _he_ was the reason for her grief, however indirectly. Slowly, Ash wrapped his arms around his mother, and the two sat in each other's embrace for a while, Delia's sniffling the only sound in the otherwise silent hospital room.

After a while, however, Ash began to grow uncomfortable. He tapped his mother on the shoulder. "Mom… I'm fine. Seriously. You can, uh, stop crying…"

If anything, this had the opposite effect, as Delia's wailing became audible.

Ash began to panic. "Uh, Mom!? Why are you crying so much!?"

Louder sobbing answered him. The boy gave up, and rested his head back on his mother's shoulder to wait out the storm. The instant his head connected, though, Delia began to squeeze him with all her might, crushing the poor boy's spine.

"Urk! Mo-ahhhhh!" he choked out, suddenly screaming as the pressure increased.

Panicked, Delia jumped back, thinking for a moment that she had hurt her son. When she let go, Ash hunched over and began swallowing in lungfuls of sanitary hospital air, the antiseptics leaving an odd taste on his tongue.

The young boy held a hand up to stop his mother's agitation from getting worse, then finally sat up straight. "Don't… do that. I'm fine, but you'll put me back to sleep if you try to crush my spine."

"Ah, sorry, honey! I was just so worried… When you showed up at home, covered in blood, and with that- that _thing_ sticking out your chest…" Delia trailed off.

Reminded of the gem, which was apparently Diorook's core, Ash wondered what had become of it. After all, things like that don't simply _vanish_.

"Uhh, Dio?" he muttered, Delia barely catching his words. "Where's the core?"

" _...I can explain."_

"Then actually explain, don't just tell me you _can_!"

" _Alright… remember when you asked me how your organ reformation was going earlier?"_

"Yeah…" Ash answered, confused as to where this was going.

" _Well, I was interrupted before I could tell you how that actually happened. See, the thing I learned about the human body is that it simply is not able to replace the cells of vital organs, like, say, the thing that pumps that red liquid, or those two things that move air, so if they get damaged, they're gone. That shouldn't have been an issue, since I could have probably just copied the remains, except… Your organs were completely destroyed, or were such a mess that I couldn't understand anything about them. So, I just… got rid of them?"_

"You… _what!?_ "

" _I got rid of them- but don't worry! My core is easily able to keep you alive, since it was made to sustain me, and no offense, but I require a_ lot _more energy than you. Approximately ten times as much, if my calculations are correct. On the bright side, I did manage to completely restore your skeletal and muscular structure, so you'll still be able to move normally."_

"Uh…"

" _If anything, I did you a favor! Those organs were taking up a lot of space, and they weren't even that efficient. My core is able to replace every single one of them, and still has energy to spare. This could improve you beyond the rest of the human species!"_

"Um…"

" _By the way, my core is inside your chest now, since you asked. It's occupying the space where your organs previously were. I can bring it to the surface, if you want?"_

"Yeah, sure… Do that, I guess."

"Ash?" Delia interrupted, "Who are you talking to, honey?"

"Oh, right! I knew there was something I was forgetting. Remember how I came home all messed up?"

Delia nodded.

"Well, that's because I got hit by a meteor -" He ignored Delia's gasp of shock. "- and a weird pokemon came out! He tried to help me, but somehow ended up getting stuck inside me. Apparently, his species is called the Deoxys, and I named this one Diorook- Dio for short! He's pretty cool, except for the fact that he got rid what sounds like my heart and my lungs and replaced them with his own core."

" _I_ told _you, I had no choice!"_

"Ah… okay…" Delia murmured, barely able to process this sudden overload of weird information. Her son was… possessed by an alien? Wait, his heart and lungs were replaced?

"What do you mean, he 'replaced' your heart and lungs?" she finally asked, after a drawn-out silence.

"Well, a tree branch kinda impaled me, which seriously messed me up, and Dio couldn't recreate them, so that's why this thing is here now." Ash pulled down on his hospital gown, tapping on the perfect emerald circle which was revealed.

"O-oh… I suppose that makes sense... Is there anything else you can show me?

"I dunno. Dio, _is_ there?"

" _Hmm. Perhaps. It should be possible, if I command my core to do this… And move that there… Hold on, this might feel weird."_

Ash felt an itch inside his chest, almost as if something was trying to crawl up his throat. The odd sensation moved down into his gut, then backwards so it rested on his lower back. Before he could register anything else, the back of his hospital gown exploded into a mess of red and blue. The sound of the cloth ripping reverberated throughout the small hospital room.

Twisting around to look behind him, Ash could see four red-and-blue tentacles waving around, and they seemed to originate from his back. Looking back at his mother, the boy noticed, but did not register, the look of absolute terror on his mother's face.

"Well, this isn't all of him- just his arms. But yeah! Do you believe me now?" he carried on obliviously.

A shrill scream rocked the Viridian Hospital, threatening to shatter all the glass within a half-mile radius, and Delia Ketchum once more fainted from shock.

* * *

 **So yeah, I basically finished the majority of my planning. I might have to make a few tweaks every now and then, if I notice any inconsistencies, or think of something new, but yeah. These first two chapters were** _ **not**_ **planned out, which why it was so painful to write them. The coming chapters probably won't be the longest, but that's alright, because there'll be more of them. Quality over quantity… Although in this case, it's quantity of chapters over quantity of words per chapter. Btw still not beta-reading yayyyyyyyyy k bai :D**

* * *

 **Second author's note. I tinkered with this chapter a bit, after it was pointed out to me by Temporal King (who seems to have some issue with logging into their account to review) that the doctors couldn't really** _ **ignore**_ **the space rock in Ash's chest. I figured, yeah, you right, so I added that in. Temporal also told me it was illogical for all of Ash's organs to be destroyed, since the branch only stabbed through his chest. So, now only Ash's heart and lungs are gone, as opposed to all his vital organs except his brain.**


	3. Chapter 3

**1 Year Later**

"Ash, may I speak to you?" Professor Samuel Oak asked.

A nine-year-old Ash Ketchum looked up from the pokemon he was feeding, a pikachu which the Professor had been studying for a few days, ever since he caught the rodent trying to eat the lab's power cables. Ash rose from his kneeling position, slapping his hands on his beige cargo pants to get any food dust off, then walked over to the old man.

"Yeah, what's wrong, Professor?"

"Well…" Oak pulled on the collar of his lab coat awkwardly, swallowing roughly, "there's nothing really _wrong_ , per se… It's just that you've been spending an _awful_ lot of time in my lab. You don't really spend much time with the other children…"

"They don't want to play with me anyways. They call me mean things, like freak, and sometimes they say I should have just died when that meteor hit me so I didn't have to be near them."

Professor Oak leaned back in shock, instinctively raising his slightly wrinkled hands in front of him, as if they would protect them from the harsh truth. He had heard stories of the infamous cruelty of youth, even acted some of them out when he himself had been young, but this…

"Are you serious!?" Oak cried, then recomposed himself. "Ahem. I mean, are you _certain_ that is what they've said to you? I find it hard to believe children could say something so… vicious. Perhaps you were mistaken?"

"Of course I'm sure- eidetic memory, remember?" That had been a result of Dio rewiring Ash's brain while he slept, something that did not go over well with him. The impending argument was ignored, however, in place of Ash sifting through his now-vivid memories. Along with suddenly being able to remember everything, Ash found his thought process to be much clearer, allowing him to catch some things he had never noticed before.

Professor Oak flinched a bit, then straightened up. "Right…" he muttered, not commenting on the small pun the boy had managed to slip in. "Well, I suppose you have a reason to stay away from them, then. However! It is not right for a young boy to be completely isolated; everyone must have a companion!" Oak said, passionately. Then he directed his gaze to the yellow mouse, which was now curled up, asleep, on the white-tiled lab floor.

"Even if they are not human…"

* * *

"So." Ash said, looking at the pikachu which Oak had gifted him. The rodent stared back impassively. According to Oak, the pokemon seemed to have taken a liking to the young boy. And by that, he meant it didn't try to electrocute him to death.

"What should I call you?"

" _Don't ask me! I'm not the one coming up with names,"_ the pikachu replied.

Another thing which came from sharing a body with Dio; the ability to understand pokemon. That was an offshoot of his psychic abilities, which even after a year were still pretty cool.

"Hmm… What moves do you know?"

" _Um, I don't really know the names…"_ the pikachu admitted sheepishly.

Ash sighed. "Right, I'll just go ask Professor Oak-"

"Ash!" Professor Oak called out the back window of lab, which overlooked the ranch where boy and mouse stood.

"Speak of the devil…" Ash muttered, walking over to the old researcher.

"My apologies- I forgot to give you this earlier!" Oak pulled out a red rectangle from his pocket.

"Is that!?" Ash cried, shocked.

"Yes, indeed. _This_ ," Oak waved the object around, "is the first completed pokedex! It should help you figure out all the quirks of that little pikachu."

Said mouse's cheeks crackled with electricity, causing Oak to raise his hands in surrender.

"Right, I'll just give you this, and, uh, get back to my work!" Oak said, trying to retreat without seeming cowardly. It didn't work, but Ash was too preoccupied by the device in his hands to notice.

"Woah…" he mumbled, the world around him forgotten in favor of the pokedex.

" _Who the heck is he callin' small!? I'll have him know, I was actually a little bigger than most of the other pikachu back home!"_ the pokemon grumbled. Ash tuned back into reality just in time to hear him.

"Yeah, _fatter_ than them." he commented offhandedly, then froze as he realized what he just said.

"Wait-!" He was cut off by a lightning bolt slapping him in the face, sending him to the ground.

A few minutes later, Ash finally managed to brush all the soot off his clothes.

"Well, at least we know you know Thunderbolt… I think."

That was when Ash got the bright idea to actually _use_ his new pokedex, as opposed to having the pikachu use every attack it knew and trying to guess what they were. Flipping open the small device, Ash examined the keyboard, screens, and various buttons, and was a bit startled to see it required setup. He figured it would have already been done. Upon closer examination, it was simply asking questions about the person who owned it.

Ash input his name, a few preferences, then tinkered with the settings for a bit. Finally done, he pointed the device at pikachu, who had been watching him the whole time. Red lasers shot out of the outward-facing camera, startling the electric mouse as they roamed over him.

After a moment, the pokedex beeped. "New pokemon scanned; pikachu, the electric mouse pokemon. When several of these pokemon gather, their electricity could build and cause lightning storms."

On the larger screen, a picture of a pikachu popped up. On the smaller one, located on the lid of the machine, the same description which the mechanical voice had just spit out was displayed, followed by some physical measurements specific to this pokemon, such as height and weight. At the bottom of the large screen, under the picture, was a list of moves that this pokemon knew.

"Alright, so apparently you know Thundershock, Quick Attack, Thunderwave, and Agility."

" _I have no idea what any of that means,"_ the pikachu said, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Um, okay, let me just… Aha!" Ash cried suddenly, startling the pokemon.

He had managed to maneuver the pokedex to display a description of the attacks.

"Thundershock," the boy recited, "a jolt of electricity is hurled at the foe to inflict damage. It may also leave the foe paralyzed. So that's what you just did. Next, Quick Attack; the user lunges at the foe at a speed that makes it almost invisible. It is sure to strike first." Ash looked at his new pokemon, staring until he understood he was supposed to try and perform the move.

Throwing himself into a run, the pikachu continued to accelerate until a white streak of energy was following behind him. At this point, Ash was having a hard time seeing the pokemon, something Dio made note of. He would improve his human's reaction times and dynamic vision during the night.

A bit cocky, and drunk on speed, the yellow rodent directed his Quick Attack into a nearby tree, expecting it to fall over from the force of the blow. Instead, a few leaves fell off, and the pikachu ended up upside down and dizzy.

Ash, laughing, jogged over to pick up his new friend.

"Are you alright?" he asked, barely stifling his chuckles.

" _Urg,"_ the mouse replied.

Finally, Ash could no longer hold it in, and burst out laughing.

"What were you trying _do_?" he asked after he had calmed down.

" _I… I thought I could knock down the tree,"_ the small creature admitted, embarrassed.

Ash broke down laughing once more, causing the pikachu to be overtaken by anger. Cheeks crackling, the pokemon lit up with a Thundershock. However, it missed, barely, slightly burning Ash's hair. This shut the boy up, and he turned to look at where the bolt ended up. As he watched, the electricity fizzled out high up in the air. Ash looked on for a few moments, contemplating.

The pikachu, worried about his new trainer's silence, walked over and nudged him.

" _What's wrong?"_ the pokemon asked.

"...I think I know what to call you. That Thundershock gave me an idea…" Ash trailed off.

The mouse stared at him, waiting for the boy to continue.

"I'm going to become a pokemon trainer when I turn eleven, and I'm going to take on the Pokemon League to become the strongest trainer around. I'll need a strong partner to help me get there, so you'll need to work a lot, because some of those other trainers out there are pretty tough."

The pikachu was confused, and hoped that the young boy would get to the point soon.

"Imagine how powerful your electric attacks will be once we're at the top! I bet you could rip a hole through the stratosphere! So… I think I'll call you Skybreaker- Sky, for short."

The pikachu pondered it for a moment. It was a bit of an odd name, but definitely something to live up to.

" _I like it!"_ the newly-named Sky said, after a few moments.

Ash's smile was blinding.

Professor Oak, watching from the window of the lab, smiled as well. It seemed that he had made the right choice. Hopefully, a friend would keep the young boy from walking down the path of solitude.

* * *

 **A short one, but as I said, I'll make up for it by posting more. Any thoughts on the name Skybreaker? I always thought it was a bit odd, how Ash loves his pokemon so much, but never named them. I'm not doubting his feelings, I just think it's sorta degrading to call a pokemon by its species name as the pokemon's actual name. It's like saying that your pikachu isn't that different from any other. I, personally, think it's a very subtle way of saying that the pokemon is expendable, because there are others around, but that's just me.**


	4. Chapter 4

**2 Years Later**

An eleven-year-old Ash Ketchum stood on the edge of Pallet Town, where the main road turned into Route 1. His mother, Delia, stood next to him, though a bit away. It seemed as if she was unsure as to why she was there.

"Well, honey… I guess this is goodbye, for now. Please, be safe- you have no idea what could happen out there. Even with Sky, this world is a dangerous place, so just… Be careful…" she trailed off.

Ash simply nodded, then turned and took the first step of a journey that would change his life. There were no hugs, no tearful farewells. Not even a wave. Delia simply watched, slightly saddened, as her only son walked away, not knowing if he would ever return.

At the very least, he had Sky with him, and if all else failed, Ash could always rely on Diorook…

But that was where the problems stemmed from. Why Ash had been separated from society, and curled in on himself. Because people were cruel, and could not accept something so different from themselves- and figuring out that a person shared a body with an alien _definitely_ counted as different.

It wasn't like Ash had shown off his new abilities; some people had asked what had happened, and like the naive child he was, he told them. When they didn't believe him, he showed them. And then things got crazy.

For the citizens of Pallet Town, watching red and blue tentacles sprout from the back of one of their own had been horrifying. At first, they expected something else to follow, and leave Ash as a lifeless husk when the creature finally ripped its way out of the boy's body. When that didn't happen, the horror became focused on Ash himself, since he was the closest thing to associate with the madness. Children made fun of him for being weird, and parents urged their kids to stay away, lest the boy reveal some new, deadly power, and go on a psychotic rampage.

It ended up with Ash only being able to count on his mother and Professor Oak. Even Oak's grandson, Gary, had shunned Ash, which was totally unexpected since the boys had been the best of friends ever since they could walk. Sure, Gary could be cruel, as all kids were, but nobody had ever imagined he would do such a thing. The good Professor was shocked, the first time he heard Gary insult Delia's son, and scolded the boy for hours. Unfortunately, that only made things worse, as Gary took his anger out on Ash.

Ash, the sweet boy, simply took the insults and beatings. He had no wish to hurt anybody, and knew that retaliation would do just that. So, he allowed it to happen. At the very least, he could always turn to his mother when things got too rough.

Until the day he couldn't.

She had seen him make use of his extra appendages one too many times, heard one too many words from the townspeople, and somehow managed to develop a fear of her own son. Many nightmares were had, about Ash using those alien tentacles to strangle the other children, to stab holes through living people, to fling them around until they hit a hard surface with enough force that their skulls broke open, spilling blood and brain matter all over the ground.

This fear culminated into Delia being unable to look her own son in the eye, something which he took notice of immediately. He questioned her, not wanting to believe his dear, sweet mother could ever think him a monster, until finally the pressure bearing down on Delia became too great, and she snapped like a twig.

She had screamed, raged, cursed at her child, begging him to leave her in peace, and take his 'freakishness' elsewhere.

Ash had stared at her, watching her pant heavily, then simply turned around and walked out the house.

The boy didn't go far; just down to Professor Oak's lab, the only person in his entire hometown who hadn't shunned him for something beyond his control, and basically took up residence there. For the first month after his mother's outburst, Ash didn't even leave the lab, requesting that Professor Oak go over to his house to pick up clothes, sleeping on the tiled floor, and eating with the pokemon Oak cared for and researched. During that month, Ash had a lot of time alone, allowing him to think over the events that had led him there. Finally, he realized that none of it really mattered. All he had to do was put up with it until he was eleven, when he could become a pokemon trainer, and leave this forsaken town behind.

His future decided, Ash ended his impromptu short-distance vacation, and headed back home. Delia had groveled in front of his feet, begging for his forgiveness, admitting that she had wronged him greatly. Ash merely looked on, contemplatively, then told his mother to rise. That was all he said, and two years later, Delia still didn't know if he forgave her. She had no illusions, however.

After that whole fiasco was concluded, Pallet Town quieted down. Ash avoided most everyone else, so that there would be no cause for confrontation. He even stayed away from his mother as much as he could while living in the same house, only seeing her at meal times. Instead, Ash went back to Professor Oak's lab to occupy his time. During one of those visits, Ash learned that he could communicate psychically with pokemon, which solidified his position as Oak's assistant.

Between the ages of eight and nine, Ash simply helped the professor with mundane tasks; cleaning, organizing, moving things, and feeding the pokemon. Once his psychic abilities surfaced, he was also able to figure out why any of the pokemon were upset, and managed to defuse most potentially volatile situations with ease- saving Oak many thousands of dollars in lab repairs.

At the age of nine, after receiving Skybreaker the pikachu, Oak began to take Ash with him on field missions, to observe wild pokemon in their natural habitat. These tasks took them all over the Kanto region, though mostly into uncivilized areas. With nothing better to do than train pikachu and observe the wild animals, old man and young boy spent much time talking, with Professor Oak imparting his vast wisdom onto Ash, greatly expanding the boy's understanding of this world.

Ash learned the structure of the Pokemon League, as well as a basic history. It was even revealed that, at one point, Oak had been the Regional Champion of Kanto, until a man named Lance came along and beat him, barely. It came down to a battle between dragonites. Oak's was slightly tired from having to fight a raging gyarados in a previous round, giving Lance's dragonite the edge it needed to secure the victory. Oak wasn't bitter over the whole thing- if anything, he was fairly relieved. Now that he no longer had to stay at Indigo Plateau all the time, he could focus his time on doing the thing he loved the most; studying pokemon. That was around the time Oak moved to Pallet Town some thirty years ago.

Ash learned quite a bit about pokemon, both from studying them in the wild, and from what Oak said. He learned about the types, the vast number of different species, the locations where certain kinds could be found, the habits of certain races, and special talents of a variety of pokemon, though they were mostly from the Kanto region.

The most interesting thing, however, was by far the topic of Legendary pokemon. Creatures with phenomenal strength, with the power to alter the world- in some cases, the fabric of the universe itself. These tales and stories intrigued Ash so greatly, that he revealed to Oak that once he was the strongest pokemon trainer in the world, he would become the world's best Legendary researcher.

" _Heh, good luck with that, Ash! First, you'll need to prove you're the best by beating the Regional Champions, and with six regions and so many other powerful trainers, that's going to be quite the tough challenge!"_ Oak had said.

Ash already knew a bit of that, and had already determined that with Skybreaker by his side, nobody would be able to stop him.

That was why Ash was now halfway between Pallet Town and Viridian City, following Route 1 between the towns. He turned to the pikachu riding on his shoulder, since the electric mouse hated his pokeball with a passion.

"Are you ready for this, Sky? Together, we'll become the absolute strongest, and nobody will be able to beat us!"

Sky nodded enthusiastically, cheek sacs sparkling slightly with his excitedness.

" _Yes, we will soon be at the top of this world. However, we must_ start _this journey before we can end it. I suggest hurrying up, unless you enjoy the idea of spending days on the road."_ Diorook said in his mind.

Ash scratched his cheek sheepishly. "Right…" he muttered, deciding to take Dio's advice.

With a bit of effort, Ash tapped into the levitation powers of the deoxys, then lifted off the ground, shooting into the sky.

"Well, here we go!"

* * *

 **So, the journey has finally started. Took long enough, eh? Has that mess with Delia thrown anyone for a loop? Did it seem realistic? Am I asking too many questions? Btw, this is the last chapter I'm writing during my "planning period", everything else is going to be live. It took nowhere near a week, once I realized the Pokemon Adventures manga was a bit too incoherent to follow the plot. For example, take a look at the map of the Kanto Region. How in the hell did Red up going from Cerulean City, to Vermillion, without any mention of Saffron, which is smack in the middle of the two? Unless he was roughing it off the main paths, which I think is not the best idea. By the way, is the flying using Dio's power too much? I just don't want Ash to spend too much time on the road, because I'll have a hard time coming up with situations to make content about. Most of this trilogy is gonna be spent in cities, so yeah. Review with any things you think I should change.**


	5. Chapter 5

"It's locked…" Ash muttered pathetically, tugging on the doors of the Viridian Gym uselessly. He refused to look up at the sign posted on the door, which said ' _Gym leader absent, come back later.'_

After a few moments, the boy's efforts increased significantly. "I should just yank this stupid door off its hinges…" he growled

" _You_ do _realize that being chased by the police for damaging Pokemon League property would be a hindrance in your quest? What if they get a picture of you, and start a manhunt?"_

"What, for breaking a door? There's no way, they have more important things to do."

" _You can never be too sure. Weren't you the one who told me there was no way Delia would ever hate you?"_

"...That was low."

" _I know. I just want you to stop wasting time, and move on. Maybe when you come back, the gym leader will be here. According to the map, Pewter City is the nearest town with a gym to Viridian. Why not head there?"_

"Ugh… Fine. I guess you're right."

" _Of course I am."_

Ash walked towards the edge of the town, making sure he was away from prying eyes, before activating his levitation abilities and heading off up Route 2, towards Pewter City. Hopefully, that gym leader was there.

* * *

Turns out, he was. Unfortunately, Ash had to go through a small tournament to face him. It seemed that Leader Brock didn't want to waste his time fighting those who couldn't make it through this, which seemed logical. It probably decreased the amount of challenges he had, and may have also been entertaining to watch.

It only took Ash a moment to sign up, and he was given a slip of paper with the number '10' on it. The lady at the desk explained it was to match him up with his first opponent, who would be holding the nine card.

Currently, numbers five and six were going at it, using a bellsprout and doduo.

"Alright, Bellsprout, use Razor Leaf!" Trainer Five cried.

"Doduo, dodge and counter with Peck!" Trainer Six responded.

It seemed like Ash was gonna be here for a while.

* * *

"Would trainers nine and ten please report to the ring?" the announcer said into the microphone.

"Finally…" Ash muttered. He had been waiting for a half-hour.

Moments later, Ash stood in the ring, Sky sitting on his shoulder tensely. His opponent, Trainer Nine, came up. He was a tall, muscular man, with a buzz cut. He also wasn't wearing a shirt.

"Ha, is my opponent seriously a kid!?" Trainer Nine cried, stirring up the crowd with his trash talk.

"Listen here, runt," Trainer Nine turned his attention on Ash, "I'll give you one chance to forfeit, and save your pokemon from having to spend the night in the Pokemon Center."

The two trainers stared off for a moment, before Trainer Nine took his young opponent's gaze as a sign of defiance.

"Alright, don't say I didn't warn ya! Graveler, get out here and show this kid who's boss!"

Ash didn't say anything, instead patting Sky on his furry flank. The yellow mouse hopped off his trainer's shoulder, and meandered over to the center of the ring, facing of with the glaring, four-armed boulder that was a graveler. Once there, the referee (who was sitting in a chair outside the ring, to avoid being collateral damage) blew his whistle, and the match began.

Over on his side, the muscular Trainer Nine smirked smugly. ' _This stupid kid doesn't even know that Electric-Types can't affect Ground-Types! I'm_ so _gonna win this!'_ he thought.

Out loud, he shouted, "Graveler, use Rock Throw, then get in close with Rollout!

Graveler gave a battle cry, before breaking a chunk of rock off itself. The space where the stone previously occupied quickly filled in, and Graveler threw his projectile. Once it had left his hand, he pulled his four arms in close to himself, then began to roll towards Sky.

Sky sidestepped the Rock Throw, then simply jumped over the Rollout. Undeterred by his failure, the graveler turned around and came back in. This continued for a bit, until Trainer Nine got angry.

"Graveler, use Rock Polish, then go back into Rollout! That should let you catch up with that rat!"

"Gravel!" the pokemon cried, then began to roll in place. The friction between the graveler and the ring floor eroded the Rock-Types rough skin, leaving it smooth and shiny. With that done, Graveler took off once more, noticeably faster than before.

Unfortunately for him, Sky didn't have to exert much more effort to evade these quicker attacks. Getting bored, Sky's tail straightened out, then took on a steely glint. The light reflected off the Iron Tail as Sky, in the air from one of his jumps, performed a front flip, bringing his hardened tail down on Graveler as it neared once more.

In an astonishing show of force, the Rock-Type was pushed _into_ the ring floor, leaving a massive dent and kicking up a cloud of dust. Once the air cleared, it was revealed that Graveler had been the victim of a one-hit K.O via Iron Tail.

Trainer Nine was shocked. He had no clue that a tiny Electric-Type could even learn Iron Tail, or that it could take out his uber-powerful graveler with _one_ hit. He was so surprised, he had to be prompted by the referee to return his unconscious pokemon and leave the ring. Ash also left the ring, but that was because he wasn't up next.

It seemed that he was in for another long wait.

* * *

It didn't actually take that long this time, but that was probably because the entrance desk had closed, causing the number of competitors to drop every time someone lost. Of course, there were still a lot of trainers looking to take a shot at Brock, so the wait was still long- about twenty minutes, this time.

"Would trainers ten and seventeen please report to the ring?"

Ash walked up, passing between the ropes, then stood in his corner. Sky jumped off his shoulder pretty quickly this time, scurrying to the ring center.

His opponent was another man, but this one was wearing a gi, though Ash couldn't tell which martial arts branch it was for. He also had a black belt tied around his head, the strands hanging onto his shoulders. The belt seemed to be holding back his slightly unruly black hair.

"Greetings, young trainer! You must be quite tough to have defeated your first opponent at such an age- but I will show you that the efforts of me and my pokemon will not be surpassed by mere prodigal strength! Mankey, show them your kiyah!"

With that, Trainer Seventeen tossed a pokeball into the air, where it burst into a flash of white light, which shot down to the ring floor. After a moment, a pokemon comparable to a monkey which only had a torso appeared. Once more, Sky had a stare-off with his opponent.

The referee blew his whistle, and the martial artist immediately called, "Mankey, use Karate _Chop_!" emphasizing his command by slashing a hand through the air.

Sky did not feel like playing around this round, so once the mankey got in close, he fried it with a Thunderbolt, the advanced version of Thundershock which he had learned at some point during the last two years.

The monkey pokemon lit up, even becoming transparent for a moment, as if she were an x-ray, allowing the spectators to see her skeleton. Once Sky cut the power to his attack, the mankey was left standing there, smoke rolling off her unconscious body. After a moment, the Fighting-Type slumped over, proving beyond a doubt that she had been knocked out. The martial artist, like the muscular Trainer Nine, was in shock, but he at least managed to retain enough mental function to return Mankey, and leave. He also, like Trainer Nine, headed off to the Pokemon Center.

Ash went back into the crowd, to wait for his next opponent.

* * *

"Would trainers ten and twenty-five please report to the ring?

Ash got to his feet with a sigh. It was finally _over_! Him and Trainer Twenty-Five were the last ones in the competition, meaning Ash was only one victory away from taking on Brock.

Up in the ring, Ash sized up his final opponent. It was a woman wearing a white sundress, white sun hat, and carrying a white umbrella. Her long, curly blonde hair framed her face, giving her the look of a beach-fairing woman who had sensitive skin. Or something like that.

"Your pikachu is quite cute, young man, but it can't hope to rival my Sandy in adorableness!"

The referee, figuring now was a good time, blew his whistle.

"Let's go, Sandy! Show them who is the cutest!"

A sandshrew materialized in front of Sky, who's tail took on a metallic sheen. For some odd reason, Trainer Twenty-Five opened up her umbrella. Wasn't that bad luck to do indoors?

"Sandy, dear, use Sandstorm!"

Oh.

With a click of his tongue, Ash used his psychic abilities to keep the sand off him. He couldn't do the same for Sky, as that would've been cheating.

Fortunately, the Sandstorm was not thick enough to heavily obscure vision, so Sky could still see his opponent. Sky sped forward with a Quick Attack, far faster than his opponent could move, spinning around and switching to Iron Tail at the last second, allowing the momentum to add to the attack's impact.

The sandshrew was sent flying, bouncing off the elastic ropes of the ring, then rolling to a stop close to the ring's center. Amazingly, he still stood up, though the pokemon was very clearly battered, as it was shaking from the effort.

"Oh dear… Sandy, try using Dig!" Trainer Twenty-Five called.

Sandy bent forward, then collapsed, unable to take the strain.

With a sigh, Trainer Twenty-Five recalled her sandshrew, then turned to Ash.

"Well, it was a pleasure battling against you, Trainer Ten. It was certainly an eye-opening experience."

Ash simply nodded, not really seeing how losing so quickly was nice. People were weird.

Once Trainer Twenty-Five had cleared the ring, the referee spoke into his microphone for the first time that.

"Well, everybody, wasn't that a great fight? Let's have a round of applause for Trainer Ten, Ash Ketchum!"

Surprisingly, the audience _did_ applaud, then Ash had to remind himself that this wasn't Pallet Town, and these people didn't think he was a monster.

Once the spectators had stopped cheering, the referee continued. "And now, for emerging victorious from this long tournament, Mr. Ketchum has won the right to challenge Pewter City's very own gym leader; Brock!"

The cheers were thunderous this time. Ash noticed a part of the crowd shuffling around, leaving an empty space where they once were. This continued until there was a straight line from a door to the ring, and walking halfway down it was a man, who was most likely the gym leader. He was fairly tall, with a head of spiky brown hair. His eyes were very squinted, which somehow added to his intimidation factor, along with the way he commanded such respect from the audience. Also, the fact that he was shirtless and showing off his ripped abdomen.

Brock walked with long strides, and with enough purpose that it seemed as if he were heading to war, when it was simply a gym battle. Once in the ring, Brock nodded at Ash,

"I've seen your battles, and I must say, I am impressed. It's been several years since someone managed to make it to the end of my tournament by using only a single move per opponent, and that pikachu… But I'm rambling. Welcome, Ash Ketchum, to the Pewter City Gym. As you may know, I am Brock, and as a reward for beating all your opponents, we shall battle. Do you accept?"

Ash nodded, still not saying anything. Sky, currently sitting on Ash's shoulder, crackled with electricity, anticipating a challenging fight.

"Very well- Geodude, show this trainer the toughness of the stone!"

Sky hopped off Ash's shoulder, seeming very tense. He was arching his back, with his tail sticking straight up- almost like a cat.

"Alright, Geodude, let's start this off with a few Defense Curls and Rock Polishes!"

"Dude!" the geodude cried, before curling up into a ball and spinning in place. It was very similar to what Trainer Nine's graveler had done. However, the geodude was also surrounded by a green glow, which Ash assumed was from the Defense Curl.

"Next, lay out a Stealth Rock!"

Geodude complied, breaking up chunks of the ring floor and tossing it about, seemingly randomly. Fortunately for Ash, he wasn't going to be switching pokemon.

Brock was a bit confused as to why Ash had yet to order his pikachu to do anything, or why said pikachu didn't take the initiative.

"Get them moving with an Earthquake!" Brock shouted.

Geodude reared back both of his fists in an overhead blow, then brought them down with an astounding amount of force for such a small pokemon. Sky, well aware of what the attack did, had turned his tail to iron and used it as a launcher.

The gym leader smirked. This was what he wanted. Ignoring the trembling ring, Brock yelled, "Use Smack Down, while it can't dodge!"

Geodude seemed to share his trainer's smugness. He ripped up another chunk of the arena, but this time threw it straight up. It then glowed with a brown aura, indicating that Geodude was using his geokinesis on it, then the stone rocketed down towards Sky, who was still airborne.

Annoyed, Sky's flashed with the steely color of an Iron Tail, then he tossed himself into a spin. When the Smack Down came, Sky slapped it with his tail, sending the rock one way, and Sky the other way. Using his acrobatic abilities, the pikachu managed to managed to maneuver himself so that he landed on his feet, though the impact was slightly jarring. It was ignored, in favor of using Agility, Double Team, and Quick Attack in rapid succession. The result was about ten pikachus, moving so fast one could hardly count them properly.

Brock was not concerned by this, since he knew that the illusions couldn't do a thing, and he trusted his geodude to be able to use the vibrations caused by the real pikachu to discern its location. As expected, after a moment, Geodude spun around, and stuck his hands out. On the palms, small pores opened up, and out came small rocks, about the size of pebbles. However, it was the speed that made them dangerous. After a few near misses, the Rock Blast connected with the electric mouse, causing him to cry out in pain.

Geodude grinned, taking advantage of his opponent's disturbed tempo to slam down with a quick Earthquake. The attack struck, tossing Sky into the air with another yelp.

"Geodude, don't let up this advantage! Keep pressing with Rollout to get close, then use Double-Edge!

Geodude obeyed, curling into a ball and rolling forward. Meanwhile, Sky had finally hit the ground, somewhat dizzy. He heard Brock's commands, and shook his head to orientate himself. Upon looking up, Sky saw that the geodude was quite a bit closer than he would have liked. With a squeak of panic, the yellow mouse blurred into motion using a combination of Agility and Quick Attack, forgoing Double Team since he had already learned it wouldn't work, and paid heavily for that mistake.

An impromptu game of cat-and-mouse started, though it was more like sentient-rock- and-electric-mouse. The sentiment remained, however, as Sky and Geodude raced around the ring in circuits. Finally annoyed, Sky launched himself into the arena ropes at his high speed, turning around in midair, tail glinting with the familiar light of an Iron Tail.

Geodude noticed, but was going too fast to stop. He would have to rely on his earlier Defense Curls and his ability, Sturdy, to get him through this.

Sky, spinning around almost as fast as the geodude using Rollout, struck head-on with the highly-mobile rock, slamming him across the ring with the force of his blow. Geodude hit the ground heavily, then bounced once before being caught by the elastic ropes. He dropped to the floor, and managed to roll upright, though it was clear the Rock-Type had needed to rely on his ability to survive that one.

Brock grimaced. "That pikachu hits hard, I'll give you that," he said to Ash, then turned to his pokemon, "Alright, Geodude! Try another Earthquake!"

The pokemon slammed his hands into the arena floor, making the structure rattle a bit more. A shockwave raced toward Sky, who was rubbing at his tail, which felt like it was nearly torn off from that impact. Luckily, he noticed the oncoming attack, and quit his complaining long enough to jump over the Earthquake. Then, once he landed, and Geodude was trying to recover from the strain of firing off such a powerful attack while exhausted, Sky blurred into a Quick Attack. Unable to react quickly enough due to fatigue, Geodude took the normally ineffective attack to the face and fainted.

Brock recalled his pokemon, and nodded once at the pokeball. "Ya did great, Geodude. Take a break. Now, come on out, Graveler!"

Out came the evolved version of the opponent which Sky had so much trouble with just a moment ago, aggravating the Electric-Type to no end. This time, rather than allow it to boost itself with Rock Polishes- which were what made the previous match so infuriating- Sky leapt forward, the white trail of a Quick Attack followed.

"Alright, so you wanna play like that?" Brock questioned, seeming a bit too smug for someone who had just lost a pokemon. "Graveler, Self-Destruct!"

Sky having heard the command, panicked. He was going too fast to completely avoid the attack, so the best he could do was angle himself to the side to avoid the brunt of the damage. Set to do that, the pikachu began turning, when he heard his trainer's voice for the first time in the tournament.

"Sky, slam your Iron Tail into the floor as a break."

Seeing the logic behind the order, Sky complied, crying out in pain when his tail nearly dislocated itself from negating all that forward momentum. Managing to ignore it for a second, focused more on the boulder in front of him which was flashing dangerously, Sky jumped backwards, and not a moment too soon.

Graveler exploded, sending out a wave of concussive force which still caught Sky, forcing him backwards. Everyone near the ring was pushed as well, though not to the extent as the pikachu. Brock also was subjected to the force, but the difference in mass between a fairly large man and a pikachu made itself known, when Brock merely took a step back. Ash simply diverted it with his psychic powers, not in the mood to be covered in dust.

When said dust cleared, it was revealed that Graveler had knocked himself out with the move, which unfortunately didn't have that great of an effect on his opponent.

Brock's previously smug grin turned into a slight frown, as he recalled his graveler, whispering words of assurance to the unconscious pokemon's pokeball.

Turning back to Ash, he said loudly, "You have done well to come this far. Not only have you defeated many opponents, but you have also forced me to use my strongest weapon." Here, Brock paused, pulling a shrunken pokeball out of his pocket. He maximized it, then stared at for a moment. After this, he glanced around the crowd, which was silent in anticipation. Finally, he activated the device in his hand.

"Onyx, take the floor!"

Out came a pokemon of gargantuan proportions, formed of multiple boulders, each of which made Brock's graveler look small. Against a pokemon like a pikachu, the size difference was ridiculous. The onyx, which had emerged from his capsule curled up, stretched to his full length, and let out a deep, bellowing roar. It was too deep to make out if the pokemon was crying his own name, like most pokemon did, or if it was just letting out a wordless howl. Once it was done, the rock snake focused on his opponent.

Upon seeing the pikachu, Onyx let out a cry of outrage, as if the mouse's very presence had offended him. Brock did not seem too surprised- in fact, he even nodded, as if this was expected.

"Alright, Onyx, don't underestimate this opponent, regardless of how small he is! Let's start off with a Stone Edge!"

Onyx roared once more, then stilled in concentration. Around Sky, the pieces of the arena floor, which Geodude had previously placed in preparation for a futile Stealth Rock, began to glow brown. Understanding what was about to happen, Sky's tail became metal in preparation.

The Stone Edge came in quick, hard, and from all directions. Sky managed to use his small size to his advantage, squeezing between projectiles and using his Iron Tail to knock a few aside. Unfortunately for him, there were simply too many, and Sky took a few heavy hits.

The Electric-Type came out of the barrage looking visibly battered, panting as he used Agility to run around, preventing the onyx from getting another lock on his position.

Brock smirked, confidence raised by his pokemon's mostly successful attack. "Well, if you're too fast to hit in one place, then we'll just attack everywhere at once! Onyx, Earthquake!"

The massive pokemon reared back with his entire body, then slammed the majority of his length onto the ring floor. Due to his massive size, the onyx even close to simply landing on his opponent. Fortunately, Sky managed to use a well-timed Quick Attack to get out of the way, barely. _Un_ fortunately, that barely meant that Sky was still close enough to be slapped full force by the Earthquake, since he didn't have enough time to react.

Getting launched into the air, Sky cried out, heavily damaged by the super-effective attack, even more so since he had been so close to the epicenter.

"Now, while it's still in the air, use Rock Tomb!"

Onyx roared in obedience, before concentrating hard. Pieces of the arena floor were ripped up, surround by the brown glow of geokinesis, then converged on the airborne pikachu from all directions. Unable to react, Skybreaker was locked into a floating stony sarcophagus.

The boulders fell away after a moment, the electric mouse following.

Onyx roared in victory, overpowering the sound of the excited crowd for a moment, before they overtook him once more. Brock's smirk became a full-blown smile, as he pulled a pokeball out of his pocket.

"Well, that was an excellent fight, Ash Ketchum. You did well pushing me so far, but it seems that this is your limit. I suggest training a bit more, maybe getting another-" he was cut off by a scowling Ash.

"It's not over yet. Stop acting like you've won already."

Brock frowned. "What are you talking about? I saw your pokemon faint."

It was Ash's turn to smirk. "Then I have no idea what battle you were watching."

Brock turned to where his opponent's pokemon had fallen, and became alert upon seeing it not there. "Onyx, watch out!"

But it was too late. Sky had already stealthily crawled over, and even managed to climb to the top of the onyx's head. One downside of having stone for skin meant that your sense of touch was pretty dull.

"Sky, Thunderbolt!" Ash cried, raising his voice for the first time that day.

The pikachu obeyed, letting out a massive cry of effort, before lighting up in a dazzling display of power. Electricity flowed from the yellow mouse like water, before making contact with the onyx he was standing on.

Brock watched in disbelief as the high voltage somehow managed to overwhelm the nullification effect of Ground-Type pokemon on Electric-Type moves. After a moment, Onyx's body could no longer cope with the sheer power, and the boulders which made up the chain disconnected, being launch around the gym. Luckily, it was with enough force that the rocks slammed into the walls, getting stuck there, as opposed to landing in the audience.

Onyx's head alone remained in the ring, though the eyes were closed, the pokemon clearly unconscious. Sky, who managed to cling to the rocky head, was panting heavily. He jumped off the onyx, then slowly made his way over to his trainer, who scooped him up in his arms. Sky fell asleep right away, exhausted as he was.

Brock was so shocked, he could barely speak. All he could do was use a pokeball to return his pokemon, which managed to collect the scattered pieces.

The applause from the crowd was insane. Never before had they seen such a display of power, and never from such a small pokemon; it was truly a spectacular sight, and many were thankful that they had used their Silph Phones to record the whole thing.

Brock finally snapped out of his trance, and walked over to the victorious challenger, pulling something out of his pocket.

"Well, Ash Ketchum, it seems I was wrong, and I've definitely learned to not take my eyes off my opponent. That was a great match, and for your victory, you've earned the Boulder Badge!"

Ash took the small metal octagon, examining it for a moment, then putting it in his pocket.

"By the way, just so you know, gym badges are special in that they can increase the power of a trainer's pokemon. According to some research done by Professor Samuel Oak, they increase the overall power of a pokemon by approximately two percent, which does not sound like much, but the difference is there. It would explain why people with eight badges have such powerful pokemon- besides battling so much."

Ash nodded. This information wasn't anything new, but it was the polite thing to do.

"Also, if you don't mind me asking, where are you heading next? There's no way a trainer with as much potential as you would be satisfied with just one gym battle."

"You're right. I'm heading to Cerulean City, to battle the gym leader there, too."

Brock nodded, not at all surprised. "Well, a bit of advice; the leader is a young woman named Misty, and she specializes in Water-Type pokemon. Normally, you would have the advantage with an Electric-Type, but she's trained enough that type advantages have become kind of meaningless."

Ash nodded, then shook hands with the surprisingly pleasant man. When he saw him at the start of the battle, Ash had feared he would be like Trainer Nine; a muscle-head. Fortunately though, it seemed like not just anybody was made a gym leader.

"Well, don't let me keep you from your business. Go do you what you need to do, and good luck!"

Ash smiled at the older male, then turned and walked out the door, Sky gathered in his arms.

Brock watched him go, a small smile on his face.

"Just like his father…"

* * *

 **First gym, done! So, how was the battle? I, personally, think it was a bit odd to make the battle with Geodude, who should statistically be the weakest, the most time-consuming, but I guess that's just how it worked. The Graveler fight obviously couldn't be that long because, well, Self-Destruct. We all know how that works.**

 **People seem to bit upset with the thing about Delia, which I kinda understand. I'm pretty sure everyone loves her, but I wanted to do something different with my story. Not that it's really that mainstream in the first place, but whatever. However, I will tell you this. Delia and Ash** _ **will**_ **make up, but that will come in the second book, so ya gotta wait :D**

 **A guest commented on the appearance of the tentacles, and yes, it is most definitely reminiscent of a Kagune. I even made that note in my planning page:** Delia is also scared of Ash after he shows her his ability to use Dio's tentacles- scared of the way they sprout from his back like Kagune. **So, congratulations Guest, you hit that nail right in the head.**

 **How many of you readers would be opposed to me doing one gym per chapter, with not that many chapters dedicated to non-gym things? I think it'll definitely allow me to churn out these chapters a bit faster, since I don't have to come up with crazy scenarios, but I wanna hear what ya'll think. K bai :D**


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey, Dio, isn't that Mount Moon?"

" _I would think so, considering it is the only mountain between Pewter and Cerulean."_

"Ya know, I don't have to take that sass!"

" _I beg to differ. We do, after all, share the same body."_

Ash was silent for a moment, unable to come with a point to refute the alien. So he changed the subject.

"Whatever. I'm going to check it out; I've never been in a cave before." Oak had always insisted on studying pokemon in wide open spaces, where they could escape easily should things go wrong.

In his head, Ash could feel Dio's smugness, and swore to find a way to get back at the symbiote. Outside his mind, he flew down to the main road, which he always kept in sight to ensure he didn't get lost. Upon touching down, he began walking like a normal, not-alien-possessed person would, and soon reached the entrance to a cave, which would likely take him through the mountain.

Walking in, the first thing Ash noticed was the dark. Then again, it was the only thing he _could_ notice, since he couldn't see anything else. Dio had wanted to change Ash's eyes, to allow for night vision, but Ash had declined, stating that he wouldn't be able to sleep at night without the darkness.

At times like this, he really regretted that decision, but what can ya do?

"Dio, think you could do that night vision thing now?"

" _I thought you'd never ask."_

Moments later, a searing pain erupted in Ash's skull, causing him to hunch over, head in hands, while tears flowed freely from his eye sockets. After a moment, the effort of standing became too much, and he dropped to his knees, jeans rustling against the stone ground. Another moment, and the boy was curled up in fetal position.

Finally, after what seemed like days, but was in actuality only minutes, the agony ended. Ash groaned, rubbing at his eyes furiously to get rid of the river of tears that threatened to drown him. He stayed on the ground for a bit, not wanting to ever get up again, but soon rallied.

"Dammit… You couldn't have warned me?"

" _No."_

"...Rude."

Climbing to his feet with difficulty, the boy opened his eyes, and was in awe at what he saw.

The roof of the cave seemed to go on forever, only seen by Ash because of his greatly enhanced eyesight, courtesy of Diorook. It had to be at least five stories up, the size of buildings he had only seen in Celadon City, the trade center of Kanto. It was not very wide, however, perhaps only barely enough to fit two houses from Pallet Town side by side. The ground was littered in craters, holes, boulders, and a variety of rocks of all sizes.

Walking on, Ash quickly grew bored with the monotony of the cave. It was different from the outside, but the inside was all the same. Deciding he didn't particularly feel like dealing with this anymore, Ash took off using his levitation, covering ground much faster in the air.

After a few minutes, the trainer heard some people talking somewhere ahead of him. They were likely far enough away for Ash to continue flying for a bit, since his enhanced hearing had quite the range.

Another minute passed in the air, before Ash touched down, the voices close enough that he would be able to see them soon. He would've seen them already, if it wasn't for the sharp left turn which ended his straight-line sight. He did, however, see a bit of light around the corner.

Taking that left, Ash stumbled upon a fairly large group. There were men and women, mostly men, off all different shapes, sizes, and looks. However, one thing in common was that they were all wearing black uniforms, with a massive red 'R' emblazoned across the torso. A few of these people were wearing black berets as well, and these few were standing toward the center of the circular congregation, indicating that they were leaders of some sort. The meeting was lit up by handheld lanterns, possessed by about half of the crowd.

"Alright, people, let's spread out and find that Moonstone, quick! We don't want the Jenny Force catching wind of this, so if we don't find it soon, we'll have to give up. Now, go!"

The uniformed people without berets turned away, allowing their lanterns to guide their way as they fanned out, intently scanning the areas the light could reach.

Ash, curious about what a Moonstone was, decided to watch these people. He stayed on the ground, which proved to be a mistake, as one of the uniformed people pulled a pokeball off their belt, releasing a zubat. The pokemon let out a screech of echolocation, which Ash felt wash over him.

Sensing him, the zubat turned and screeched, this time in warning rather than for searching. The owner, noticing, squinted into the darkness where his pokemon was facing.

"Who's out there!?" he called, seemingly ready for a fight. Nearby people of his group turned, waiting to see if something was about to go down.

Deciding to oblige him, and also somewhat itching for a battle, Ash stepped forward into the lantern light.

The man seemed surprised, then regained his composure. "Just a kid...?" he muttered. "The heck are ya doing here?" he asked Ash.

"I'm just passing through to Cerulean City." Ash replied.

The man nodded, then took notice of the pokemon on the boy's shoulder. His mouth turned up in a cruel smirk. "Alright. You can go- but hand over that there pikachu, and any others ya got. If ya don't, well… The commander doesn't really want witnesses, if ya catch my drift."

Ash was shocked at the boldness of this man, asking him to simply 'hand over' his best and only friend. That shock quickly turned to anger, which then dissolved into a cool resolve. Ash was conscious of the many people now watching the confrontation, ready to jump in if things took a wrong turn.

' _Just more pigs to the slaughter…'_ Ash thought. Out loud, he said, "Sky. Kill them."

Skybreaker, who had been sparking in anticipation the whole time, jumped off his trainer's shoulder, and barreled towards the uniformed man.

The man was quite startled by the younger trainer's brazen statement, but then waved it off as the cockyness of a dumb kid. "Zubat, show this kid why he shouldn't mess with Team Rocket! Use Supersonic, and when the rat's confused, take it down with an Air Cutter!"

Zubat obeyed, opening its fanged mouth and screeching. This screech was different from the ones before, and visibly displaced the air in a ring. It raced towards Sky, who noticed, and jumped through the center of the ring without hesitation. Continuing on without slowing down, Sky belted out a Thunderwave, paralyzing the zubat and its trainer. Unable to keep flapping, the bat pokemon fell to the ground, which Sky took advantage of by slapping it with an Iron Tail.

The enemy pokemon went flying, crashing in a wall on the side of the cavern, and slumped down, unconscious. Remembering his trainer's orders, Sky held up his Iron Tail, whipping it around and caving in the skull of the man who had confronted Ash. The sound of bone giving way seemed to snap the other members of Team Rocket out of their trance, as they all immediately released their pokemon.

Ash saw many pokemon, though there were several of the same species. More zubats, rattatas, geodudes, magnemites, and voltorbs joined the fray. The numerous adults all called out various commands, their voices melding into one massive cacophony of noise which confused the enemy pokemon.

Sky took advantage of the mess, launching a much more powerful Thunderwave, which caught several of the the non-Ground-Type pokemon, and even some of the Electric-Types, then dashed forward under the influence of multiple Agilities and a Quick Attack.

Few of the non-paralyzed pokemon could react in time, since they still didn't have orders and were too dependent on their trainers to take the initiative, so they simply watched as their allies were demolished with speedy Iron Tails and well-placed Thunderbolts. A few humans were involved in the one-pokemon-siege, though they were much less resilient than their pokemon. As a result, broken and fried corpses began to pile up on the cavern floor.

The remaining Rockets rallied, calling out commands to the still conscious pokemon. This time, the orders were much more easily received, considering there were less people shouting now.

A horde of hostile pokemon fell upon Sky. The voltorbs, geodudes, and rattatas thundered forward, using Rollout or Tackle. The magnemites and zubats hung back, firing off Sonic booms and Air Cutters.

Unfortunately for the enemies, they were aiming at an enemy on the ground, which was easily exploited by Sky bouncing into the air on an Iron Tail. The ground units, going too fast to stop, collided with each other under the airborne pikachu. Then, the mass of Sonic Booms and Air Cutters hit, knocking out many friendly pokemon. Sky got out unscathed, and used the moment of general panic to fire off more Thunderbolts. The electric mouse traded power for speed, but his attacks were still strong enough to knock out the zubats, and harm the magnemites. A few more Rockets were hit, jolting their hearts to premature cardiac arrest, killing them soon after.

After a few more minutes of chaos, Sky had managed to slap and zap his way to victory, leaving swathes of unconscious pokemon and dead Rockets in his wake.

The commanders of this Rocket group watched on dispassionately. They were ashamed that such weaklings were a part of their magnificent organization, but… Well, they were foot soldiers for a reason.

A Rocket commander wearing a flowing scarf stepped forward. "Well played, young trainer- but don't get cocky. Those fools you just massacred were the of the lowest rank in our organization, nothing but a bunch of Grunts," he said. The scarfed commander turned to his comrades. "You guys go on ahead; I'll take care of this brat."

The other commanders decided to leave it to him, confident in his victory. However, one of them hesitated, then turned back. He tossed a syringe at his colleague, who seemed confused.

"I don't need this." Scarf said.

"Probably not, but _someone_ needs to test it out. By the way, it's keyed to a rhyhorn, so you'll probably need this, too." Other Commander tossed Scarf a pokeball, which probably contained a rhyhorn. Scarf nodded at his companion, who turned away to join the rest of the commander entourage.

Scarf looked back at Ash, who was still watching as impassively as when this thing began. The Rocket commander was slightly unnerved by the apathy of this kid, but put it out of his mind. After all, it wouldn't matter when the boy was dead.

"As I was saying earlier, those Grunts weren't worth anything, so of course you managed to take them all out. But I'm one of the higher ranks; a Commander, to be precise. You won't be leaving this cave alive, kid."

Scarf tapped the button on the pokeball the other Rocket Commander gave him, which burst open to release, surprise surprise, a rhyhorn. However, it seemed that Scarf wasn't done. The man walked over to the spiky pokemon, and placed the needle of the syringe against its rocky skin.

"Watch carefully, kid, and witness the power of Team Rocket!" Scarf cried, then pressed down on the syringe plunger, injecting the clear fluid into the borrowed pokemon. Said pokemon began to glow brightly, forcing Ash and Sky to avert their eyes. They looked back when the light died down, revealing a completely different pokemon squaring off with them.

Where once there had been a rhyhorn, there now stood a much larger rhydon, scowling at the boy and mouse. Ash was shocked- he had never heard of people being able to force a pokemon's evolution without the use of an elemental stone.

Scarf saw the surprise on the boy's face, and began to gloat. "So, now you see? You can't beat us! Not with the kind of power we hold! And even _if_ , by some miracle, you manage to beat me, you'll never be able to stop the rest of Team Rocket! We have other members who are just as strong, or stronger than me. Rhydon, use Magnitude and bring the ceiling down on this brat!"

The newly evolved pokemon complied, raising a massive foot, and stomping down. A tremor shook the cavern, and dust floated down from above, but that was about it. Sky and Ash stared at the rhydon, completely unimpressed. Rhydon looked back at his master, and shrugged his shoulders. Scarf sighed.

"This is _exactly_ why I hate Magnitude," he muttered. "Alright, try that again, but this time use Earthquake!"

This time, the cave was actually rocked. Above him, Ash heard what sounded like the cave roof cracking. More dust fell from the ceiling, along with fairly large rocks, each about the size of Ash.

"Sky, get over here! We're going!" Ash called. The pikachu rushed over, having to dodge a few boulders, but managed to reach his trainer and jump on the boy's shoulder. Ash turned, and began running back the way he came, the sound of Scarf's laughter fading the further he got. Now that he was out of sight of that creep, Ash leapt into the air, putting his psychic-induced flight to get him out of the collapsing cave. Now that he wasn't sightseeing, the boy shot off like a Thunderbolt, occasionally dodging a boulder that came close to slamming him to the floor.

It took a few minutes, but Ash managed to reach the entrance he came in from, and flew through the opening. He quickly landed on the path, in case there were any nearby people who could have seen him hovering.

Ash inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly, calming himself from the mad dash. Some of those falling rocks had gotten dangerously close, and he had had to make use of his psychic powers to nudge them out of the way. He was nowhere near strong enough to hold up however many tons of rock fell from the ceiling- the effort would break his and Diorook's combined minds.

Ash turned back to look at the cave entrance, and realized just how dangerous that stunt was when he saw a pile of stones spilling out. He surveyed the area quickly, and was about to take to the air one more to fly around the mountain, when Skybreaker tugged on his ear.

" _Ash, look!"_ the pokemon cried, pointing at the pile of boulders.

The trainer was confused. "It's a bunch of rocks- what do you want?"

" _I believe Sky is referring to the stone which has the crescent moon pattern on it,"_ Dio put in.

Ash narrowed his eyes, scanning the sandy trail, and saw what the two were talking about. He walked over and picked it up, examining the oddly-smooth object. It was a nearly perfect sphere, with the only imperfection being the engraved crescent moon, as Dio had said.

"Hmm… I wonder if this is that 'Moonstone' that Team Rocket was looking for?"

" _Most likely. I can't imagine they'll be too happy if they find out you managed to obtain it by pure luck,"_ Dio agreed.

" _What does it do?_ " Sky asked, which was a question that neither boy nor alien had an answer for.

"...I'll call Professor Oak when we get to Cerulean City," Ash decided, then handed the stone to his pokemon. "Put this in the bag, will ya?"

Sky did, crawling onto Ash's back to open the top of the pack- which had surprisingly survived the encounter- and slipping the Moonstone in. The pikachu climbed back onto his trainer's shoulder, tapping the side of the boy's head to let him know he was back in position.

Ash nodded to himself, searching his surroundings for any unwanted guests, then took off into the air, headed for Cerulean City.

* * *

 **Isn't it funny, how last chapter I said I wasn't going to be writing about events on the road, but then immediately did that? The Cerulean Gym Battle is coming up, and I think y'all know what's bouta go down.**


	7. Chapter 7

"Excuse me, would any of you happen to know who the Cerulean gym leader is?" Ash asked three gorgeous women, each wearing sparkly short dresses and high heels. It seemed impractical, especially in a Water-Type gym, where the risk of slipping was much higher.

The blonde with a red dress giggled. "If you're lookin' for the gym leader, then you're lookin' for us! We're the Sensational Sisters! What's your name, cutie?"

"I'm Ash. Which of you is the leader?"

This time, it was the redhead in the yellow dress who giggled. "Like, it's all three of us, silly!"

Ash was confused. Could there be such a thing as three leaders for one gym? Ash voiced his question, eliciting a giggle from the bluenette wearing the green dress. Ash was starting to hate that sound.

"Of course, silly! They do it in Unova, too- and ooh, those three are _cute_ , dressed as waiters!"

All three Sensational Sisters devolved into giggling, grating on Ash's ears. However, he kept his anger in check. It wouldn't do to lose his temper and get kicked out of the gym- Diorook would heckle him until the end of times.

"Well then, I would like to challenge the gym. Are all three of you going to be battling?"

The sisters gave him a blank look, so he asked again. This seemed to knock them out of their daze, as they glanced at each other.

"Battle?" Red asked slowly, rolling the word around on her tongue as if it were a foreign concept.

"Uh… Yeah. That's the whole point of gyms, isn't it?"

"I guess, but we don't really battle." Blue said.

" _But_ , you _can_ get your badge another way. Wanna know how?" Blonde asked, the only one of the three to maintain her peppy tone.

"Yeah, it's _super_ easy!" Blue interjected, jumping back into character.

"Are you seriously not going to battle?" Ash asked in disbelief.

"Well, _duh_ , silly! Didn't we _just_ say that?" Red drawled.

Ash sighed, then nodded wordlessly. If these leaders weren't going to battle for the gym badge, then he would simply get the damned thing and be done with it. Hopefully, the Saffron Gym would put up more of a fight.

"Great!" the three sisters cried, then Red began pushing the boy towards a door at the back of the gym. Once the four passed through, a light flickered on, revealing a massive pool.

It was _filthy_.

There was mold of all colors covering the walls- a veritable rainbow. The pool floor was not much better, being plastered with slime. The entire thing reeked, more so than a room full of corpses, which Ash had experienced back in Mount Moon.

He took a step back, hand flying up to cover his face, but he was stopped from further retreating by the ladies behind him.

"Well, this is the place. Isn't it gross!" Red asked.

"Yup, totally gross. Like, I think I'm gonna _die_ if I have to stay in here anymore," Blonde responded.

"'Kay, you just have to clean that pool to get your badge. Have fun!" Blue said, as she pushed him forward. While Ash was stumbling, the Sensational Sisters fled. Ash swore he could hear the _chink_ of a lock.

He ran over to the door, and found that it was indeed locked when he tried to open it, but to no avail. The boy growled, and was all set to simply rip the door off its hinges with his enhanced strength, when he heard someone call out to him.

"Hello? Is there someone there?" the voice inquired. It sounded feminine, and for a second Ash feared that there were actually _four_ Sensational Sisters, but then calmed down once he saw the speaker.

It was a girl a bit shorter than the three sisters, with oddly orange hair, wearing a one-piece bikini, with an open windbreaker on top. She, unlike the sisters, wore flip flops, reducing the chance of slipping and breaking her neck on the probably-wet surfaces.

"Hi," Ash replied, "I'm here for the gym challenge, but the leaders said they weren't going to battle, so they want me to clean this pool instead."

Orange was startled, but then scowled something fierce. "Those _idiots_! Who the hell do they think they are, refusing challengers to _my_ gym!?"

Ash was confused. "Your gym?"

Orange calmed down at the question, turning her attention back to Ash. "Yeah, I'm Misty Waterflower, and I've been running this gym for a while, since it was passed on to me by my parents. My stupid sisters think _they_ should have been the ones to inherit it, since their the oldest, but they don't even know how to battle! It's a gym, how can the leader not know how to battle!"

Ash remembered what Brock had told him back in Pewter, about the Cerulean leader being a young woman named Misty. Well, this was a woman, who looked young, and claimed to be Misty. It was probably the best he would get.

"Well, if you're the gym leader, can we battle?"

Misty nodded. "Yeah, but let's go back out front. I always fight challengers at a pool." She walked over, past Ash, then tried to open the door. She blinked when it wouldn't budge. "The heck?" she muttered.

"Oh yeah, those three locked the door when they left me here."

Misty's anger came back tenfold, as she pulled a pokeball from her windbreaker pocket, releasing a starmie. "Alright, buddy, I need you to open this door up. Use Psychic on the lock mechanism."

Starmie did as told. Seconds later there was a click, and the door swung open. Misty patted her pokemon on one of its appendages, then returned it. She stomped out of the back room, and made a beeline for the three Sensational Sisters, who were currently sitting in lifeguard chairs.

Blonde happened to glance up, and saw her youngest sister on a warpath heading right for them. She paled, and slapped her other sisters on their arms, pointing their attention to the vortex of rage. The quickly scrambled down from the lifeguard chairs, but were surrounded by a blue glow that forced them to stop. Ash recognized as Psychic, and glanced at Misty, to see she had called out her starmie at some point.

Starmie picked the Sensational Sisters up, flipping them upside down, then hung them over the surface of the pool's water. They were close enough that their hair was in the water.

"Alright, you dumbasses have thirty seconds to explain to me what the _hell_ you were doing, before I have Starmie drown all three of you!" Misty shouted, face starting to turn purple from ire. That couldn't be healthy.

Ash could respect righteous anger, but when it came at the cost of one's own health, he drew a line. There was simply no sense in it, not when you could always get them later.

"Misty, calm down. You look like you're going to burst a blood vessel."

The orange-haired woman was surprised that the boy was sticking up for the people who had tried to play him like that, but ordered Starmie to release her sisters. They dropped into the pool, sputtering and choking, before managing to swim out. It was lucky for them that they had grown up near the water, and thus could swim very well, or they might not have made it out of there.

Blonde and Blue had to help Red climb out the pool, since she kept grabbing at slippery tiles that wouldn't provide her a grip. Once all three were on land, they hightailed it out of the gym, as if Darkrai himself was at their heels. Misty was glaring at them the entire time, which probably added to the illusion.

Once they were gone, Misty heaved a sigh of annoyance, and turned to Ash. "I'm sorry about that. They just get me so _mad_! I swear, if I wasn't related to them…"

Ash nodded, a rare smile on his face. "It's fine. That was pretty funny, too."

Misty smiled as well, then turned serious. "Anyways, you came here for a reason, right? Let's down to it!"

Trainer and gym leader walked over to the pool that the Sensational Sisters had been dropped, taking up stations on opposite sides. Misty waved at someone who was in a windowed room in the corner of the room. The person did something, and panels opened up in the side of the pool. Platforms drifted out, used in case the challenger didn't have pokemon that could swim.

Skybreaker jumped from Ash's shoulder onto one of the floating platforms, taking a moment to get a feel of the shifting balance. Misty eyed the Electric-Type, figuring that she had run across yet another trainer who would try to use a type advantage against her. Unfortunately for Ash, Misty had long since worked out ways to counter that sort of thing.

She thought for a few moments about which pokemon to send out, then decided to start out with a slightly weaker pokemon, to feel out her opponent.

"Staryu, let's drown these kids!"

Ash blinked at the crude phrase, while Sky took it as a challenge. In response, his cheeks began to crackle violently. While his opponent was forming from white light, the pikachu took a moment to stack up Agilities, increasing his movement speed drastically.

Staryu came out swinging, rushing at Sky with a Rapid Spin, rotating through the air at high speeds- almost like a saw blade. Sky made use of his heightened speed, to jump across the platforms in the pool. After a few moments of this, Staryu wisened up realizing she wouldn't be able to catch the mouse like this.

She stopped spinning, but still stayed floating in the air somehow. The red gem at her center glowed red, and she fired a glowing Power Gem. It collided with the platform Sky stood on, breaking it clean in half and threatening to send the Electric-Type into the water. He responded by launching a Thunderbolt at the floating starfish, which was narrowly dodged. A Thunderwave came next, causing the staryu to fall into the water, unable to move. Sky took advantage by feeding another Thunderbolt into the pool, effectively knocking out Misty's first pokemon.

The gym leader recalled Staryu with a nod, approving of how the pokemon had handled the obstacle, but annoyed with the fact that the type advantage managed to win out in the end. However, it wouldn't work on Starmie.

The purple star came out much like his predecessor; in the throes of a Rapid Spin, though Starmie was much faster, since he was stronger than his pre-evolution. Sky still dodged, albeit with some difficulty, and attempted to put his new opponent down with a quick Thunderbolt.

Ash and Sky were both surprised when the attack was simply deflected before it hit Starmie, shooting into the pool instead. Ash knew that there was something different between Staryu and Starmie, besides the obvious physical changes. He pulled out his pokedex, pointing it at the Starmie, which was currently launching speedy Swifts and powerful Power Gems at Sky.

After a moment of scanning, the device beeped. Ash ignored the voice spouting out a simple description, and instead read the displayed information.

"Sky, Starmie is a Psychic-Type! It can deflect your attacks!" Ash called.

Sky stopped dodging momentarily to process his trainer's warning, which was a mistake. He was slapped upside the head with a Power Gem, taking damage and being knocked into the pool. Starmie exploited his opponent's precarious position, and dove after the pikachu.

A moment later, the pool water began to churn furiously, and Ash understood what was happening. The starmie was using Rapid Spin to imitiate Whirlpool. Since Sky wasn't being hit by anything, he wouldn't take damage, but the motion would probably make him dizzy.

"Sky!" Ash called, "Try and overpower Starmie's psychic power with Thunderbolt!"

Miraculously, the spinning mouse heard the command, and lashed out with the attack. Unfortunately, since he was still submerged, the Thunderbolt diffused into the water. Starmie had used his psychic ability to keep the water away from him while the electricity could hurt him, keeping the purple star from harm. Realizing he couldn't do anything in this position, Sky began furiously kicking his legs, trying to get to the surface.

He succeeded, but couldn't get out of the pool, since the floating platforms were on the other side of the vortex. The pokemon looked at Ash, desperate for his trainer to come up with a plan to save him from a watery grave.

Ash's mind was racing, until he struck gold.

"Sky, use Iron Tail to sink down, and wait until the platforms come to you!"

Sky obeyed, waiting patiently. Unfortunately, the platforms wouldn't be coming.

"Starmie, use Ice Beam to freeze the pool!"

The purple star obliged, and managed to do so while keeping up with the Rapid Spin. As he spat out the white laser, he slowly rose to the surface, so that he wouldn't be caught up in his own attack.

Ash had to resort to his psychic powers to get his message to the aquatic pikachu.

" _Sky, they're freezing the pool! Get to the surface!"_

Skybreaker panicked, cancelling his Iron Tail, and shooting up to the top of the pool. He barely made in time to hop on top of the quickly approaching ice. Had he been a second slower, he would have become a mouse-sicle.

"Alright!" Ash called, this time out loud, "Try again to overpower Starmie's Psychic with Thunderbolt!"

Sky obeyed, pouring everything he had into the attack. At first it came out as a normal Thunderbolt, but the more juice he poured in, the larger the attack became, eventually becoming at least a meter in diameter. The entire time, Starmie's red gem had been glowing, steadily getting brighter as the effort to deflect the attack grew. Finally, the Water-Type could no longer keep it up, and was shocked into unconsciousness.

At the same time, Ash's pokedex beeped in his pocket, then began speaking. "Your pikachu has learned Thunder!"

This happened every time Sky learned a new move, or replaced an old one- like when his Thundershock grew into Thunderbolt. Ash grinned, glad that his partner continued to get stronger every day.

Sky, on the other hand, was panting. That had taken a lot of effort out of him; he was nowhere near used to the power requirements of Thunder. That would require more training.

Misty sighed disappointedly, recalling her starmie. "You rocked, Starmie- you seriously had that pikachu on the ropes. Take a rest, you've earned it," she muttered to the purple star's pokeball, tucking it into her pocket. She then pulled out another pokeball, and smirked evilly at Ash.

"I hope you're prepared, kid, because this last pokemon of mine is a real monster. Let's do this, Gyarados!"

Out came a massive, serpentine, raging beast. It was predominantly blue, with a white underbelly, and fins along its back. The pokemon's mouth was absolutely _enormous_ , looking large enough to take a sizeable chunk out of a snorlax's gargantuan stomach. The atrocious pokemon let out a bone-rattling roar, its perpetual hateful glare set on Skybreaker, who took a step back.

"Let's start off strong! Use Dragon Dance to the max, then Rain Dance!"

It seemed that Misty wanted her pokemon to stack itself with boosts, making an already powerful beast into something truly dreadful. The gyarados roared, then began twisting in intricate movements, moving faster and faster as time went on. Finally, it stopped, then slammed its tail into the pool, causing a spray of water to go high. A few more slithering movements, and that water formed small clouds, which poured rain.

Sky had not been idle, however. The electric mouse used Charge, and was building up the power within himself to use another Thunder. If it missed, or for some reason didn't work, then the yellow pokemon would be in trouble.

Ash had known quite a bit about gyarados', since one had attacked Pallet Town once, before the meteor. It had been the scariest moment of Ash's young life, when that monster rose from the sea, slithered over to the small city, and began a horrible rampage. Many people Ash knew were killed, until Professor Oak and his Dragonite managed to put the thing down. Afterwards, he had studied up on the pokemon, determined to know what to do if he ever ran across one.

As a result, Ash learned that gyarados was both a Water- _and_ -Flying-Type. This made it incredibly susceptible to Skybreaker's attacks, which was already strong as a Thunder, doubled in attack power by Charge, and even further strengthened by the Rain Dance. Also because of the Rain Dance, Thunder would not miss, since the bolt would be so large it would be near-impossible to dodge.

However, Gyarados was also packing some serious firepower. It was a naturally powerful pokemon, under the influence of several Dragon Dances, and the Rain Dance, which would make a Water-Type attack much more powerful.

It seemed as if this was shaping up to be a clash of titans, which Misty noticed. It influenced her next decision.

"Gyarados, use Hyper Beam!"

The serpentine beast charged up the energy inside its mouth, forming a sphere of destructive force. Sky was on the verge of overloading himself, and the electricity in him was so desperate to escape that some of it came lashing out in weak Thundershocks, hitting the water, but diffusing before they could reach Gyarados.

On some unseen and unheard signal, both pokemon fired. Gyarados shot his laser directly at the pikachu, covering the distance in mere seconds. However, just before the beam slammed into him, Skybreaker launched his extremely overcharged Thunder into the clouds which made the Rain Dance.

The gray clouds turned a dark shade of black, crackling with electricity, before an actual lightning bolt shot down, crashing into Gyarados. The atrocious pokemon lit up like a light bulb, and much of the water in the pool was evaporated instantly.

Due to the speed of lightning, the attacks both hit at the same time. Sky was sent flying, while Gyarados was fried. Both attacks created large noises, though the Thunder was far louder. It didn't really matter, since both trainer and gym leader were deafened and blinded.

It took about a minute for their senses to return, and the humans saw the result of the tremendous clash. Both pokemon had been knocked out. Sky was on the far side of the gym, carried there by the force behind the Hyper Beam, while Gyarados lay in the pool, though his massive head had hit the tiled gym floor, taking a chunk out of it. Smoke rose from the massive pokemon's unconscious form.

Misty and Ash looked at each other, gaping. They had just borne witness to something that could have easily killed them, but the pokemon had only been knocked out. It spoke of the weakness of the human species, and Ash was glad that Dio was now a part of him.

The boy dropped eye contact with the woman, and rushed across the gym to pick up his pikachu. He also checked to make sure Sky was still breathing, just in case, and was thankful when he saw the mouse's chest rising and falling.

Ash slowly walked back to the edge of the pool that served as the battlefield, which was now only half empty, with shards of reinforced plastic and ice scattered about the surface.

Misty and Ash once more locked eyes, before the former burst out laughing, while the latter grinned widely- more so than he had in years. They both walked away from the pool, meeting up on the sidelines.

Misty stuck a hand out at Ash, which the boy shook vigorously.

"I gotta say, kid, it's been a _while_ since I've had a match that explosive- frankly, I'm surprised we didn't blow the roof off the gym. Either way, you've definitely earned this Cascade Badge!"

Misty procured the teardrop-shaped piece of metal from her pocket, handing it over to Ash, who accepted it gratefully. He put it in is own pocket for now, until he got to the pokemon center to get Sky back up and running.

"So, where ya goin' next? And what's your name, by the way?"

"I'm Ash Ketchum, and I'll probably be heading for Saffron City. It's the closest city with a gym, and I've already been to Pewter."

"Ketchum, huh? Well, a bit of advice for you; Saffron Gym is run by Sabrina, this real creepy chick who's apparently got psychic powers. Don't know if the rumors are true or not, but I'd watch my thoughts in that place. Anyways, I've gotta get Gyarados here healed up, since you almost turned _him_ to 'ash'. Heh."

Ash smiled a bit, glad that both the gym leaders he had met so far were so cool, but also somewhat wary of this Sabrina woman. If she was truly a psychic, she could possibly find out some things about him that were better left unsaid.

With a wave, Ash, carrying Skybreaker in his arms, left the Cerulean Gym.

* * *

At the pokemon center, Ash had handed Sky over to the Nurse Joy on duty, and took a moment to survey the place. There were some couches, plants, fluorescent bulbs, other trainers, and videophones over in the corner. Most of the place was orange, which Ash was not particularly fond of, since it hurt his eyes.

Speaking of videophones, Ash had someone to call. He walked over, booted up the device, and dialed in Professor Oak's number, which the old man had given him the day before he left on his journey.

After three rings, the back of a head appeared, showing off the gray hair.

"Hello?" the professor asked, though who he was talking to, Ash had no clue.

"Professor, turn around."

Oak rotated, and seemed a bit surprised to see Ash, but the shock quickly turned into joy.

"Ash! I was wondering if you would call me, since you're a rather independent lad, but what do you need so soon? It's only been a few days since you left. Speaking of which, where are you now?"

"Hey, Professor. I'm in Cerulean, and I've already got the Boulder and Cascade Badges," Ash said, then paused to dig said badges out of his pack, showing them to the bug-eyed man. "I flew, by the way. I'm heading to Saffron next. Anyways, that's not why I called. I took a little trip in Mount Moon, and ran into this group that calls themselves Team Rocket. We fought, I escaped, and I found this weird rock- I think they called it a Moonstone. They were looking for it, but I don't know why." Ash dug the Moonstone out of his bag, putting his badge case back in, and showing the new item to the professor.

The man was a bit wide-eyed at hearing about all that his student had gone through in a mere two days, but pushed the surprise aside in favor of a more serious approach.

"The Moonstone is a very rare object, said to carry the energy of the stars themselves. According to some rumors I've heard, it mainly functions as an evolution stone- for what pokemon, I don't know- but it may do other things. Those stones are so rare that there are not many recorded instances of finding one. You've stumbled across something incredible, Ash."

Ash nodded, then thought for a moment. "Send over Dragonite, Professor. I'll have him take this back to you for examination."

Oak titled his head to the slightly, thinking over the merits of doing such a thing, before agreeing. "Good idea. There is much to learn, but I'm not the right person for it. One of my colleagues over in the Sinnoh Region, Professor Rowan, is the leading expert in evolution. If anyone can find something from that rock, it's him. That aside, you said you encountered Team Rocket. You _must_ be careful around those people, Ash- they're a group of criminals, who steal pokemon from trainers they've defeated! From what I've heard, they don't leave many of those trainers alive, either."

Ash nodded, thinking about how violent those Rocket Grunts were, and how willing Rocket Commander Scarf was to bring the entire cavern down on him. Were it not for Dio, Ash would likely have been crushed to death. Speaking of Scarf…

"Hey, Professor, do you know if it's possible to force pokemon evolution without the use of a stone?"

Oak leaned back, startled, before his eyes narrowed and he leaned back in. "Ash, _what_ are you talking about!?"

"Well, when I fought those guys, one of them injected a rhyhorn with something, and it evolved into a rhydon right after."

Oak's wrinkled face hardened further. "This is dreadful news; if they've figured out a way to force evolution in such a manner, then they could become so much more dangerous. Imagine, if they were to do that to a magikarp in the middle of a crowded plaza…" The old man shivered.

"I don't think they've managed to mass-produce it yet, since all of their grunts only had first stage pokemon, like zubats and geodudes. It's probably expensive, so they might only allow the higher ranks to have access to it- even though those guys most likely already have evolved pokemon," Ash reassured the man.

Oak calmed down a bit. "Yes, you have a point… I just hope you're right. Well, that aside, I have to go now, to send Dragonite out, and tend to some of the pokemon. Call me again if you have any issues, or if you run into Team Rocket again."

Ash nodded. "Alright. Bye, Professor Oak."

"Goodbye, Ash." Oak replied, cutting the connection between the videophones.

Ash turned away from the now blank screen, walking over to the front desk of the center.

"May I help you, young man?" Nurse Joy asked.

"Yeah, can you check on the condition of my pikachu?"

"Alright, if you'll give me one moment." she said, then walked into the back, where the rooms for injured pokemon were. She returned a few minutes later.

"Well, your pikachu is fairly exhausted, and has sustained quite a bit of damage. You said he took a Hyper Beam from a gyarados?"

Ash nodded.

"That explains it. He'll have to stay overnight, but in the morning, you should be able to leave. Is there anything else you need? Perhaps a room?"

Ash nodded, and accepted a key from the pink-haired woman. He left the front desk, and walked up the stairs. It took him a moment to find his room, number 206, but once he did, he entered.

It was a simple place; a queen-sized bed, a desk, a rolling chair, a bedside table, and a lamp on the table. The floor was carpeted, and the walls were made of plaster. Overall, fairly comfortable, if a bit sparse.

Ash didn't mind the lack of furniture- it was just less things to distract him. He set his pack down on the desk, slipped off his shoes, and jumped onto the bed without even changing his clothes.

The boy fell asleep quickly, tired after all the excitement of the day. He also had to be rested for tomorrow, in case this alleged-psychic, Sabrina was tougher than he expected. If she was too weak, and tried anything, he would break her. After his gym battle, of course.

* * *

 **Yay, another chapter down. These gym chapters end up being long, since I seem to like putting a lot of energy into these fight scenes. Speaking of which, are they entertaining? Do they make sense? Saffron City is next, as is the mental showdown with Sabrina. Look forward to that. K Bai.**


	8. Chapter 8

The Saffron Gym was fairly empty, compared to Cerulean and Pewter. There were no other trainers, no objects to fill in the space- like pools- and very few lights. Overall, it was a very gloomy place. The only person Ash saw sat in an ornate chair, at the back of the building. He walked over to her, stopping at before he got close.

It was a woman, wearing a low-cut pink tank top, white pants, and large, thick bracelets on her wrists. The ornaments were mostly black, but had a glowing band in the middle. She had what looked like shoulder length black hair, though it may have been longer, since it curled upwards in a strange manner. Her eyes were a startlingly vibrant scarlet.

"Are you Sabrina?" Ash asked bluntly. He had a feeling that a woman living in such sparse conditions would not care for formalities.

She nodded, and he nodded back. Skybreaker hopped of Ash's shoulder, sparking dangerously, and the gym leader got the message. A pokeball floated out from behind her chair, and opened without her touching it at all.

Ash narrowed his eyes at her. It seemed that Misty was correct, and that this woman _was_ a psychic.

Sabrina noticed, and smirked at him. Meanwhile, a kadabra materialized from the floating pokeball, which returned to the woman's side once its purpose had been fulfilled. The pokemon crossed its spoons menacingly at Ash.

Unfortunately for Kadabra, it had been paying attention to the wrong opponent, because Sky came racing in on the vestiges of a Quick Attack, and slammed the Psychic-Type with an Iron Tail. The attack collided with the kadabra's temple, or in that approximate area, and the pokemon fainted instantly.

Sabrina's smirk widened, as she recalled Kadabra and called out an alakazam, all without moving a finger.

Alakazam immediately Teleported to get out of the way of another Iron Tail, ending up on the opposite side of the arena. Sky spun around quickly, boosted by Agility, and launched a Thunderbolt quickly. He had not yet gotten used to the drain of Thunder, so that was a last resort.

The Thunderbolt, like with Starmie, was deflected by Alakazam's psychic powers. However, since the Psi pokemon was much stronger than the purple star, the electricity was made to turn around completely, striking Sky.

The pikachu didn't so much as flinch, because his Volt Absorb ability negated the attack. Alakazam nodded to himself, as if that result had been expected. The next Thunderbolt was simply shunted to the side.

Sky burst into a Quick Attack enhanced by multiple Agilities, then used Double Team. The ten pikachus converged on one spot, ran in a circle, then scattered, all in an attempt to confuse Alakazam. Unfortunately, it did not work, since the Psychic-Type could sense which of the mice had a mind, and lifted that one up into the air with Confusion.

Sky was torn into by the spectral blades of a Psycho Cut, crying out in pain, before being slammed into the floor. He got to his feet immediately, and dashed toward his foe. The floor was wood, so there was no chance of kicking up dust to try and distract the Psi pokemon.

As he dashed, Sky launched Thunderbolt after Thunderbolt, using the attacks to close the distance rapidly. It worked, and Sky managed to smack Alakazam aside with an Iron Tail. However, since it hit the pokemon's abdomen, he was merely winded, instead of getting knocked out. Still, Sky took advantage, closing in once more, this time with a simply Quick Attack that once more knocked the wind out of his opponent.

Alakazam Teleported, using the moment of respite to gather his wits, then had to immediately deflect a Thunderbolt. The Psychic-Type decided that move was getting annoying. His spoons glinted in the meager light of the gym, as they were pointed at Sky. The pikachu felt something wrong when the Disable hit, and stopped moving to try and figure out what it was.

That was a mistake, as the electric mouse was instantly slammed with a Psychic, launching him across the gym and into a wall. This time, it was the pikachu's turn to be winded.

While his foe was temporarily out of commision, Alakazam set up a few Future Sights, aimed to hit random areas around the gym. That done, he watched as Sky raced towards him, only to be struck by an invisible force. This happened twice more, before Sky got irritated, and launched out a supercharged Thunderwave.

"Your pikachu has learned Shockwave!" Ash's pokedex chimed.

The Shockwave collided with the Future Sights, cancelling out both attacks. Sky tried to follow up with a Thunderbolt, but unfortunately did not know of the Disable. He tried again, futilely, before Alakazam interrupted with Psybeam, which Sky jumped over. He gave up on Thunderbolt, instead taking things a step up.

A quick Charge bolstered his power, causing the Thunder attack he launched next to be massive. Alakazam was not prepared for the large, extremely quick bolt of lightning, and was a bit too slow to deflect it. As a result, the Psychic-Type was smashed into a wall, fried and unconscious.

Alakazam was quickly replaced by an espeon, who had to hop out of the way of a Thunderbolt. The move was no longer Disabled, since the pokemon who did was now knocked out. Sky took advantage, belting out many bolts, one of which struck Espeon. She slid back, then countered with a Psyshock.

The wave of tangible psychic energy was cancelled out by a Shockwave, clearing the battlefield. It didn't stay that way for long. Skybreaker kicked off into a mad dash, zigzagging all over the gym, almost faster than Espeon could see. Instead, the Sun pokemon had to cover the area in a thin layer of psychic energy, using the disturbances to figure out where the pikachu was at any given moment.

A prefired Confusion hit home, knocking Sky off his feet. His momentum sent him tumbling for a few meters, before he skidded to a stop. During that time, Espeon had been using Calm Mind, improving the potency of her psychic abilities. Once more, she cast out her mind in a blanket, but a thicker one this time. It covered Sky, pressing harshly down on him. The pressure increased, as Espeon focused more of her power onto the pikachu's location, letting up on the complete coverage she'd had beforehand.

Eventually, the force became so great that Skybreaker found it hard to breathe, the weight of the psychic energy squeezing the air out of his lungs. This continued for half a minute, agitating the mouse beyond belief.

With gritted teeth, Skybreaker forced himself up using sheer willpower, panicking Espeon. He took a step forward, then another, and another. Espeon pressed harder, forcing the Electric-Type back to the ground, where he growling in aggravation. So great was his anger that he began sparking uncontrollably. One concentrated bout of electricity was even large enough to count as a Thunderbolt, launching at Espeon, who had to block the attack. That moment of distraction was all Sky needed, as he took off like a rocket.

"Your pikachu has learned Spark! Your pikachu has learned Wild Charge! Your pikachu has learned Volt Tackle!"

The white streak behind him signified a Quick Attack, which combined with the crackling electricity he was constantly emitting. Instinctively, Sky concentrated all his power into his cheek sacs, forcing the electricity out through the red pores. As a result, the electricity formed a small circle in front of him, which then expanded until it covered Sky in a cloak of lightning.

Espeon attempted to stop the yellow mouse using her enhance psychic abilities. It worked, for a moment, as Sky was visibly slowed down. Unfortunately for Espeon, the Calm Minds she had deployed earlier finally ran out, and the pikachu smashed through the meager mental resistance.

Recoiling from the backlash, Espeon was unable to dodge when Sky crashed into her, his electrified tackle knocking her out, then launching her into the wall of the gym.

Sky finally slowed down, and the lightning cloak dispersed. The mouse was panting heavily, and walked over to Ash on shaky legs. When he reached his trainer, the pikachu finally collapsed, but Ash knelt down and caught him before the pokemon could faceplant. Rising to his feet, Ash watched as Sabrina mentally returned Espeon to her pokeball.

The humans locked gazes. Ash's emerald green eyes were blank, while Sabrina's scarlet orbs were lit up in amusement.

"You sure are an odd one, Ash Ketchum."

The trainer froze. He had not told the woman his name.

"How do you know my name?" he asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I read your mind- speaking of which, who's Diorook?"

Ash's anger boiled over in an instant, and he lashed out with his powers. The strength and ferocity surprised Sabrina, and she was overwhelmed before she could even put up a meager shield.

She tried to draw in on herself, to get some space to properly formulate a counterattack, but Ash was unrelenting. He chased her down into the depths of her mind, batting aside lances of psychic energy as if they weren't even there.

Images flashed by; a man and woman, cowering in the corner of a room while many objects spun around in a kinetic tornado. Children running away in fright, then being taken down by flying objects. Armed men wearing heavy armor and visored helmets, aiming weapons, only to be stopped when their weapons were twisted beyond recognition. Those helmets of each man was pressed down onto their cranium viciously, crushing their skulls.

More scenes of death and destruction caused by psychic abilities washed past Ash, as he continued to chase Sabrina. Finally, the hunt ended, with Ash in the deepest recess of the gym leader's mind, even further than the subconscious. There, the boy found the woman's mental core, the source of her sentience, where her mind was currently holed up, reinforcing the walls of said core. Since it was a relatively small area, she was able to produce fairly dense defenses.

He surrounded it, pressing down as her espeon did to his pikachu, increasing the pressure every moment. He wanted her to feel terror, knowing that her demise was slowly approaching, and there was nothing she could do about.

" _Ash, is this_ truly _what you want to do?"_ Diorook asked, surprising Ash. The alien had been silent all day.

" _Of course! She read my mind without my permission- who knows what she's found out? It's safer to kill her and be done with it."_ Ash replied mentally.

Dio heaved a psychic sigh. " _I don't think there is a need to escalate things quite this far. Besides, think of how this will affect your journey. Do you honestly think the Elite Four will accept the challenge of someone who has killed one of their gym leaders?"_

" _Then I'll just attack them! They'll be forced to fight back, or they'll die- and_ no _human in their right mind wants to die."_ Ash countered.

" _And what happens if they are too slow to call out their pokemon, and actually do end up dying? The rest of the Elite Four, and the Regional Champion, will come at you, all at once. No matter how good Skybreaker is, even_ he _cannot take on so many high-level pokemon. And if_ you _fight, you will be branded a monster, and hunted. So, I will ask you again. Is that what you_ really _want?"_

Ash was silent for a moment, mulling over the scenario that had just been painted. Sabrina, meanwhile, had been shivering in her mental core, hyper aware of the psychic force that threatened to crush her, but had stopped for some reason.

The pressure disappeared instantly, much to Sabrina's bewilderment, but was replaced by something much worse. Ash had dismantled her mental fortifications with pinpoint accuracy, needling his way through small imperfections she was completely unaware of. Finally, he forced his way into her core, invading her very sense of being. It was an odd sensation.

"What are you doing!?" she cried, shocked.

"What does it look like? I've infiltrated your mind."

"I _know_ that- but why!?"

"I'll give you three guesses."

Sabrina became exasperated at the roundabout ways of this boy.

"If you're going to kill me, then just get it over with!"

The boy smirked, then shook his head.

Sabrina narrowed her eyes. "So, what, are you here to take my mind hostage and enslave me?"

Ash tilted his head, thinking, then shrugged his shoulders. "You're close, but not quite."

The woman grew angry at his games. "Then what could it possibly be!?"

"I'm here to make a deal with you. But first, I've got a few questions."

Her anger was blown away, shock once more taking over.

"How do you feel about Saffron City? And don't lie to me- we're in _your_ mind. I'll know, and I'll crush you."

Sabrina was a bit startled at the ruthlessness of the young boy in front of her, but was reminded of herself. Of course, she had been nowhere _near_ as powerful, and also did not have another voice in her head. Despite how crazy people may think she was, she wasn't _that_ crazy- but this encounter could very well change that.

"Um, well, I don't really care too much about this place. It's kinda loud, and the people are annoying with how spineless they are, and those guys over at the fighting dojo keep pestering me to fight them again for the right to be the official Indigo League…" She trailed off, unsure of what else to say, in case it wasn't enough to satisfy the young boy. "And I guess it gets sort of lonely, when nobody wants to be near you…" she muttered, embarrassed to reveal something so personal to a kid. Unfortunately, she had no choice, because he would know if she held anything back, and would kill her for it.

"Well then, here's my offer; come with me."

Sabrina blinked, unsure of what Ash meant. "Come with you where?"

"On my journey through Kanto, obviously. You're an experienced psychic, and you were able to slip into my mind without my noticing. I would like to learn how to do that, and I think you could teach me."

"...And what's in it for me?" Sabrina asked, then realized her mistake. She broke into a cold sweat when Ash grinned at her.

"Well, for starters, I won't break you, and leave you a vegetable for the rest of your life. And as a bonus, you'll be able to leave behind this place full of bad memories, as well as learn about the world that you're so scared of. It's really not _that_ bad of a place, just… Big, is all. It's the _people_ you want to watch out for."

Sabrina swallowed drily, before tentatively nodding her head. "Alright. I'll come with you… Maybe then those idiots at the dojo will finally leave me alone…" She added, trying to make the offer appeal to her more. At least that way, she wouldn't have to feel like a prisoner of sorts.

"By the way, where's my badge? I beat you, though you might not have noticed since you were too busy rooting around in my head." Ash said offhandedly, turning a scathing glare on the woman.

She flinched back a bit, lowering her head to avoid his gaze, "Sorry…" she muttered, unbalanced by how much of a child she felt like under those eyes. It was disturbing, to say the least.

The boy held his stance for a moment, before he relaxed, then suddenly vanished, Sabrina took a step back, confused, then realized he went back to the real world when she felt a foreign entity leave her mind. She also noticed how much clearer she could think; Ash's mental presence had been so vast, it clouded her thoughts. She shuddered, wondered just what she agreed to. Maybe death _would_ have been better...

* * *

 **No, I'm not dead. I shit you not, I forgot about Fanfiction for a few days, since I just got two new PS4 games; Horizon Zero Dawn and the new God of War. I finished the first playthrough of Horizon, and I started GoW. Once I finish that, I'll have to go back and replay both games a few times to get all the trophies and stuff.**

 **I can't believe I'm doing this, but time for some FAQs! -_-**

* * *

 **Q1: Will Ash be getting other pokemon?**

 **A: Yes, he will. No spoilers, but I can at least tell you how many. He will get one more for the Kanto region, bringing his total up to two. In the second book, he'll get five more, though four of them may be temporary. Therefore, count on him ending up with three main pokemon by the end of the trilogy.**

 **Q2: Will Ash make up with his mother?**

 **A: Sort of. He'll stop avoiding her, but they won't be anywhere near as close as before this whole thing started. It will be a sort of cordial relationship, with both hanging on simply because they are family. If they weren't, they would most definitely cut ties. At least, that's what it's like for Ash. Delia truly does love her son, but no the monster he's become. It's a bit difficult, to have the most treasured person in your life change like that, and you keep trying to superimpose your memories onto the present person, but are then disappointed and hurt when everything is so different.**

* * *

 **That's actually it for FAQs, since those are the only two that multiple people have asked about. Here are some not-so-frequently asked questions, some of which I've already answered via review, but that I want everyone to know, so nobody asks again.**

 **Submitted by** **OddEyesEmperor:**

"uhhhhhh so why did you have Brock's Geodude know more then 4 moves"

 **A: I think that the move limit is something that should be specific to the game, since anymore moves would likely make the programmer's job slightly more difficult than it already is. What could actually stop a pokemon from knowing more than four moves, unless they're just stupid?**

 **Submitted by** **Guest** **:**

"Is Ash going to travel the six regions alone?"

 **A: Sort of. As you've just read, he'll be going through Kanto with Sabrina. Johto, Hoenn, Unova, and Kalos will not be written about, unless enough people really want that, so for the sake of convenience, I'll just say he went through those alone. Sinnoh will be the setting of Book 2, where he will also have a companion.**

 **Submitted by** **Guest** **:**

"Since Sabrina is Psychic similar to Ash. Could you make her all stoic and closed off, until she and Ash meet? Then build a sibling like bond? Dont know why but feel that would be fun to see!

Especially since they are both outcasts in society. Please?"

 **A: They will not have a sibling bond; they are both far too cold for such a thing. Also, after such a disastrous first meeting, I'd have a hard time imagining that future interactions will not be affected by it. They may grow close, but not sibling-close, ya dig?**

 **Submitted by** **Selet** **:**

"So Ash only has Pikachu for a pokemon... If it's only been 2 days for this all to happen, what the hell is he going to be doing the last 11 months of the wait until the league?"

 **A: The Pokemon Leagues in my universe do not have a tournament. Therefore, there is no chance of Ash embarrassing himself every region like in the anime. My explanation is that the League challenge is actually tough. Some trainers lose constantly to Gym Leaders and give up. Some are scared of the fearsome reputation of the Elite Four. Some just aren't good. And not everybody is going to be a pokemon trainer. Sure, most people** _ **own**_ **pokemon, but that's just for companionship. Add all this up, and the result is that there simply are not enough trainers to warrant a League Tournament. Ash will be challenging the Elite Four whenever he gets all eight badges, regardless of the time of year.**

* * *

 **Alright, that's it for questions. I actually quite liked this, so here's what I'll do; as opposed to answering questions via review, this will be the new method, so if you want an answer, read this thing. Updates will be a bit slow until I finish Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War, but oh well. At least I'm still updating, ya know? K bai :D**


	9. Chapter 9

Ash and Sabrina spent a day walking from Saffron City to Celadon City, since it was fairly close. Ash made use of the time to get Sabrina to teach him the intricacies of reading minds, which he could not yet do without immersing himself in the person's mindscape; a dangerous thing to do. Should something happen to the victim, he would be affected as well.

It was not foolproof, either. All that this method allowed for him to do was figure _how_ the person thought- assuming he wasn't caught- not what they were thinking at the moment. It was useful for predicting how they might act, but that was not necessary at the moment.

Instead, Sabrina would show him how to skim the edge of the person's mind, and how to interpret the various waves of brain activity, translating them into something understandable. Reading emotions also helped, since it clarified the process a little. For example, an angry person was more likely to be thinking ' _I'll kill them!'_ , rather than ' _Did I leave the stove on?"_.

The walk between cities was occasionally interrupted by wild pokemon, but Sky took care of them quickly. There were no people, which the two recluses were somewhat thankful for. Unfortunately, that state of isolation did not last long.

* * *

Celadon City was a fair bit more crowded than Saffron, which also had many people. Of course, both were amongst the most populated cities in the world, or so Ash heard, so it made sense. Not that he liked it very much.

People were _loud_. And obnoxious. And also rude, like that one man who tried to grope Sabrina and pass it off as simply bumping into her. Unfortunately, her psychic talent lay more in the subtle side of things. She could have shredded his mind and left him a vegetable until the end of days, but that would have drew attention.

It didn't stop Ash from using _his_ power to twist the pervert's arm three full rotations, nearly tearing the thing off. The two kept walking, ignoring the screaming of the man and the panicking crowd.

"So, where to first? The department store? It's apparently the largest store in Kanto." Sabrina asked, after they had left that mess far enough behind.

Ash sighed, and Sabrina stiffened, thinking she had made some mistake. "Of _course_ that's the first thing you ask about," he grumbled, swinging his pack off his shoulder. He dug around in the bag for a moment, before pulling out a tomato, which confused Sabrina. Was he going to throw it at her and boo her off stage? Where had it even come from?

Instead, the boy gave the vegetable to the pikachu on the ground, where he had jumped off when the boy knelt down. Skybreaker let out a happy squeal, before attacking the tomato ferociously. Red bits flew all over, and smeared across the pokemon's face. Ash sneered at the mouse's atrocious manner of eating, which the pokemon promptly ignored.

Finally, Ash noticed the odd look Sabrina was giving him. He returned a blank look, until she pointed at the feasting Electric-Type, and understanding dawned on him.

"Right. He bet me that the first thing you would suggest was visiting the store, because you're a woman."

Sabrina suddenly felt the violent urge to step on the rat. In fact, her foot was already hovering over Sky's head, before her body seized up.

"Hey now, no hurting him. He was right, so you can't complain, right?"

Sabrina noticed the predatory grin Ash was directing at her, and she shuddered as much as she could while held in place by his power. It was almost like he had been waiting for her to step out of line, so he could display his superior might.

Sky waddled out from under Sabrina's foot, and had hopped up on to Ash's shoulder before the boy released his hold on the woman. She stumbled a bit before catching her balance, and was out of breath for some reason.

"Right. Sorry… I guess I got ahead of myself," Sabrina mumbled, eyeing the ground in a mixture of shame and fear.

Ash watched her impassively for a long moment, then nodded his head. "Don't forget it."

The two resumed walking, the mood now tense.

Sabrina was mentally berating herself. How could she have allowed herself to act like that? Especially in front of a kid who could, and probably would, kill her?

Ash was already thinking of other things, such as the location of the gym. In the other Kanto towns, the gyms were at the center of the city, fairly close to the pokemon center. It stood to reason that the formula would not change in Celadon, so the two psychics made their way to the middle of the city.

* * *

"Excuse me. Are you the gym leader?" Ash asked a short-haired woman, wearing a yellow, flower-patterned kimono. It was a reasonable question, since she was sitting in a chair, surrounded by what seemed like attendants. There was a person holding a drink for her, another plopping grapes into her mouth, and a final one fanning her with a massive paper fan. Ash felt like he had seen something like this before.

The woman nodded. "I am Erika, and you are correct; I am the gym leader of Celadon City. You must be here for the badge." Ash nodded. " Then let us proceed to the battlefield."

Erika waved off her servants, standing up gracefully, and covering the lower half of her face with the draping sleeve of her kimon as she walked.

Sabrina had went somewhere else, since she didn't want to deal with the other gym leader, stating that she was a fake princess, or some such drivel. Ash didn't care, so he tuned it out.

Standing across from each other on opposite sides of the arena, Erika asked, "Might I know your name before we begin, challenger?"

"Ash."

Erika nodded, not commenting on the lack of other words. Instead, she pulled a pokeball out of her kimono sleeve, calling out a weepinbell. The creature flopped its mouth at Ash, then at Sky, who hopped off his trainer's shoulder.

"Weepinbell, start with a Sunny Day," Erika called, loud enough to be heard, but not quite raucous enough to be be called yelling, She was far too dignified for such a thing, after all.

A glowing ball of energy rolled out of the Grass-Type's gaping mouth, then shot up into the air, where it blazed brightly. Ash pulled the brim of his hat a bit lower, to block out the annoying artificial sun, and watched as his opponent's pokemon glowed green.

Sky had not been idle. He was moments away from hitting with a Quick Attack-boosted Iron Tail, when the weepinbell slid out of the way far faster than it had any right to. Ash raised an eyebrow, curious as to how a pokemon without legs could evade like that, but then decided it wasn't really worth investigating. After all, the sliding didn't help when Sky came back in, connecting this time. However, since the weepinbell had such a soft body, it was able to absorb the impact fairly well, sliding back without taking much damage.

Weepinbell responded by spitting out a glob of Acid. Sky dodged easily, but made a note of the bubbling liquid which remained on the battleground. It would not do to step in that.

"Sky, physical attacks won't work- Weepinbell's body is too soft," Ash told his pokemon. The pikachu nodded, and began to crackle with electricity.

Seeing that her opponent was no longer going to be coming in close, Erika changed tactics as well. "Weepinbell, use Razor Leaf." The Grass-Type obeyed, and spat out a barrage of sharp leaves, which Sky deftly leapt over, then returned a Thunderbolt. The attack struck, frying the flytrap, leaving it unconscious.

Erika sighed gracefully, returning her pokemon. "How unsightly…" Ash heard her mutter, with his enhanced hearing. He didn't comment, because it didn't actually matter, but it was a bit annoying to see just how caught up in appearances this woman was.

She threw out a victreebel next, which also flapped its mouth at Ash and Sky. Was that just a habit of the evolutionary chain?

The new pokemon glowed green for a brief moment, similarly to the weepinbell, but then stopped when the Sunny Day ran out. It looked faintly annoyed, and remedied that by coughing up another glowing orb. With that done, Victreebel raised the flap on its mouth, and vomited an Acid Spray. The liquid landed halfway between the two pokemon, making it much more difficult for the pikachu to approach without stepping in the acid.

Fortunately, Sky had no plans to get close, as he belted out another Thunderbolt. It struck home, but the victreebel managed to endure. After the electricity faded, Victreebel glowed white. Ash was confused, thinking that the pokemon was somehow evolving again, but then the light faded. The process repeated two more times, before the Grass-Type contorted its body in a horrifying manner.

First, the gaping maw closed, similarly to the closing of a drawstring bag, then it opened. However, the contraction continued on down the pokemon's body, then returning to normal. Ash leaned back a bit, disgusted by the action, and Sky put his paws in front of his eyes.

Erika sighed once more. "That was Stockpile and Swallow, in case you wondering. Quite a vile move, but… I suppose it does its work. Now that you're healed, Victreebel, use Spit Up before the Stockpile runs out."

Victreebel obeyed, opening its wide mouth even more, then ejecting a blob of white… stuff. Ash had no clue what it was, other than that it looked like goo, and was incredibly nasty.

Sky concurred, and used Quick Attack to get away from the attack. Once he was sufficiently far, the mouse turned on his heel to face his opponent, then loosed a hastily-charged Thunder. Some of the electricity detached from the main attack, fizzling out as it lost charge, but the majority of the power remained intact, striking Victreebel head on. This time, the Electric-Type attack took the pokemon down for the count. It flopped over, smoking, mouth-flap wide open.

Erika sighed daintily, which was starting to seriously irritate Ash, then replaced the unconscious pokemon with a vileplume.

The flower pokemon stared at Sky, glowing green like his teammates, then wobbled and fell over. The battlefield was silent, the attendants all watching as the pokemon tried to stand up, and failed. It didn't completely fall over, since the flower on its head was apparently solid enough to keep the pokemon from hitting the ground, leaving it leaning at a forty-five degree angle.

Erika sighed, causing Ash's eye to twitch. "My apologies; the flower on his head is much too heavy for him to stand up properly. Vileplume, roll around and use Solar Beam before the Sunny Day finishes."

Vileplume obeyed, using his stubby feet to rotate his body, so that the massive flower was pointing at Sky. The flower glowed a bright yellow, then focused the light at the center of the plant. Energy erupted from the vileplume in a tight beam of solar energy, roaring towards Sky much faster than he could react. The Solar Beam slammed into the pikachu, carrying him across the gym, before it faded. Sky's momentum caused him to slam into a wall, winding the mouse.

"Again," Erika commanded, and Vileplume began to charge up once again. Fortunately, the Sunny Day ran out halfway, extending the amount of charging that Vileplume had to do. In this time, Sky caught his breath, and returned to the battlefield using several Agilities and a Quick Attack. He didn't stop moving, eager to not get hit by such a powerful move again.

Vileplume was rolling around frantically to get a lock on his quick-footed foe, Erika calling out instructions, since the Grass-Type's vision was blocked by his massive flower.

"Left. More- no right! Wait, left again!" Erika cried, becoming more and more undignified with every passing moment.

Eventually, Vileplume could hold back no longer, and launched the attack. It went wide, obviously, since Sky was on the other side of Vileplume. Ash heard Erika growl, her princess-mask broken, and smirked.

Sky took advantage of Vileplume's moment of exhaustion, after firing two powerful attacks. He Charged up, then used a boosted Thunder on the panting flower pokemon. Unable to dodge, it took the attack head on. After a blinding flash of power, it was revealed that Vileplume had been knocked out.

Erika gritted her teeth in a silent snarl, then realized Ash was watching amusedly. She frantically fixed her face, covering the lower half of her face with a kimono sleeve.

With a cough, she addressed Ash. "Well, challenger Ash, it seems that you have emerged victorious. Well done on a wonderful battle. Now, I present to you the Rainbow Badge." She pulled the piece of metal out of her kimono sleeve, then held it out. However, she did not move.

Ash had to walk all the way over, and then had to use his psychic powers to grab the badge out of midair when Erika dropped it inches from his hand. The woman started violently, but then smoothed out her facial features. Ash smirked.

"You're quite petty, you know that?"

"I- I have no idea what you are referring to."

Ash caught the stumble, and Erika knew it, too. His smirk became a toothy grin, and he turned around. He didn't see Erika's glare, but he could feel it. It didn't matter, though, and the boy walked out of the building, on to the streets of Celadon City. Sky had crawled back up on his shoulder at some point, and was now rubbing his fuzzy body against his trainer's face.

Ash retaliated by poking the pokemon in his still-round belly. Two years of training, and the pokemon was still chubby.

Distracted as he was by the mouse's angry yelling, Ash didn't see the man until he bumped into his side.

"Oh. Sorry," Ash said, then narrowed his eyes when he noticed the man's attire; a black uniform, with a red 'R' emblazoned on the front.

"Stupid kids…' The man muttered, ignoring Ash's apology. He continued walking the way he was going.

Ash glared at the man's back. What the hell was Team Rocket doing in Celadon City? He may have no clue right now, but he would damn sure find out.

* * *

 **Celadon city gym, done! Erika's petty, Sabrina's god knows where, and Ash is a man… Boy, on a mission. See how the plot thickens, next chapter!**

 **QnA time.**

* * *

 **Submitted by** **lucky007**

"Everything else is really good but the amount of damage that pikachu keeps taking should have put him down long ago. Pikachu has very low defense as a pokemon but in this story it feels as if he has the same defense stats of a tyranitar."

 **A: You right, that pikachu can take a hit. I've no clue as to why I decided to make Sky a near god, but I guess it's that plot armor. Either way, Ash is going to be going through the Kanto League with only two pokemon, the second of which will be coming later, so his pokemon have to be able to take a hit. Can we just chalk it up to some intense training during the two years between getting Sky and starting Ash's journey? If not, I guess I can come up with something. Maybe Sky stole some Iron and Zinc drinks from Professor Oak's storage room, and liked the taste so much he took a lot more? Btw, Irons increase a pokemon's defense, while Zincs increase special defense.**

 **Submitted by** **InkayInks**

"The sass is strong with this one...

And boy! Team Rocket being themselves. I'm also kinda wondering if elements from the manga will show up? Are there just going to be Rockets with Pokemon abilities now? Hummmm..."

 **A: First, no Rockets with power. They're bitches, and don't deserve it. Second, yes, there will definitely be elements from the manga. Like Red, for instance, who is Ash's father. Some people (like you, Ink) caught it in the chapter with the Pewter Gym, where Brock said Ash was just like his father. In the manga, Red's pikachu made Brock's onix explode into pieces, which Sky did as well. They also look the same a bit- such is the power of genetics- and wear the same hat. The hat was from Delia, but Ash doesn't know it's his dad's, which Red left behind before he vanished to god-knows-where.**

* * *

 **That's all for questions. K bai :D**


	10. Chapter 10

Ash didn't have to follow the Team Rocket Grunt very far. The man walked a few streets, before turning and entering a building with a neon sign. The Celadon City Game Corner.

The interior of the building was rather luxurious, with fancy carpeting, perfect climate control- which was a stark contrast from the summer heat outside- polished wood tables, and plush couches. That was the entrance area alone, which also seemed to double as a dining area, if the waiters and plates of food were anything to go by. The games were in the back half of the building, and seemed to be more of a casino than an arcade, like Ash had originally expected. Slot machines, poker, blackjack, and billiards tables, the occasional ATM, and even a few showgirls. All in all, not a place for eleven-year-olds.

Of course, Ash was Ash, and completely ignored the odd looks he was getting from the casino's patrons. HIs focus was completely on the Rocket Grunt, whose back his gaze was burning a hole in. Others might have a hard time, since the light fixtures in the building were fairly spaced out, leaving many shadowy pockets, which the black uniform would have blended into. The again, most people did not have built-in night vision, like Ash did since the Mount Moon incident. He had yet to get back at Diorook for the lack of warning, unfortunately.

The whole time, the trainer's mind was racing furiously. What the hell was a Rocket Grunt doing in the Celadon Game Corner? Gambling in an attempt to increase his organizations funds? Getting some pocket change? Maybe he was going to meet some other Rocket members, possibly higher ups. Didn't bad guys with deep enough wallets like to hang in casinos regularly?

The Grunt kept walking through the Game Corner, much to Ash's confusion. Why wasn't the man stopping, either to check out a game, or talk with anyone?

The boy got his answer when the man walked up to a painting at the back of the casino, and opened a painting like a door, vanishing behind it.

The young trainer was startled. He had heard of stuff like secret rooms in books and movies, but he never really expected to see one in real life. Then again, he also never expected to fuse with an alien, but look where we are today.

Ash was unsure of what to do. Did he follow the Rocket Grunt and potentially get called out for it? After all, there was no way they had an entrance to some secret place without _some_ surveillance. Maybe cameras in obscure places, or perhaps some of the patrons were guards.

Then again, the entrance was _also_ in an obscure place, at the back of the Game Corner, hidden by various machines and tables, and flickering lighting. Throwing caution to the wind, Ash reached out, swung open the painting, and stepped through.

* * *

The transition was startling; cozy luxury turned abruptly into cold steel and fluorescent lights, reminiscent of a hospital or secret laboratory. Then again, there was quite the high chance of this being a secret lab, since the Rockets had to be doing research on forcing pokemon evolution _somewhere_. Ash's knowledge of the ownership of this hidden room was reconfirmed by the massive, crimson R which occupied the wall in front of him, where the entrance corridor turned left. Were they so stupid they had to write their name on their things to keep it from getting confusing with someone else's?

With no option except to turn left, Ash turned left. And turned left. Then right. Then left, then right, walked straight for a minute, then a few more rights and lefts, before he finally came upon something of note; a room which seemed to be dedicated to research.

Metal tables sat in the middle of the area, covered in stacks of papers and vials of bubbling chemicals. Computers whirred against the walls, accompanied by microscopes, screens, and other things that Ash couldn't name. He might have assisted the legendary Professor Oak, but that was mostly with dealing with the pokemon. Ash didn't have the patience for all that research.

A quick glance at the papers revealed that he had no clue what was going on, the amount of scientific jargon used making it unreadable. So, rather than try to understand it, Ash simply skimmed the papers, commiting it all to his eidetic memory. He would write it down and show it to Oak at some point. Surprisingly, he was not interrupted during the progress, making his life that much easier. Once he was finished, however, things changed, because at the moment Ash set down the last paper, the door opposite the one he came in from opened.

The person coming in was a male, one of the researchers, considering the lab coat he was wearing. Ash instantly had the man ensnared in his psychic grip, forcing his jaw shut and his limbs to be still. The researcher's eyes continued to rove wildly in his sockets, finally focusing on the other person in the room.

Quickly, the trainer dragged his prisoner into the room and gently closed the door, all without moving an inch, something which terrified his hostage.

"All right, let's cut to the chase. You tell me what the hell's going on here, and I won't break every single bone in your body. Try to call for help, and I castrate you. Understand?"

The man nodded vigorously, completely ignoring how odd the threat sounded, coming from a kid with a prepubescent voice.

"Good. Now, talk."

* * *

Ash was a man… Boy, of his word, and did not break every bone in the man's body once he explained the research had indeed been on forcing pokemon evolution. Instead, he only snapped his neck, which amounted to a maximum of ten bones, nowhere near the two-hundred or so he had altogether. He had never said anything of sparing the researcher- couldn't have that knowledge getting passed on to other organizations, after all.

Continuing his investigation, Ash went through the only other door in the room, the one which the researcher had entered from. Behind it was, surprise, another hallway. Fortunately, it only continued for a few moments before it led to another door. Ash opened it just a sliver, peeking into the unknown. It was lucky he did, because there were many Rocket Grunts in there. This was likely where the Grunt from the Game Corner went, since he was nowhere else to go in this rather small place.

The room seemed to be a break area of sorts, complete with vending machines, labeled restrooms, comfortable couches, and a table, which the majority of the Grunts were sitting at.

"Got a two, Jay?" one Grunt asked another. They, along with six others, were playing a card game.

"Go to hell, Ross- I swear you're cheating somehow," Jay moaned, handing his two of spades to Ross. He glanced around the room warily. "You _sure_ you don't have a Psychic-type pokemon hidden somewhere 'round here?"

"Yup!" Ross replied happily, grinning. "You may as well call _me_ a psychic, though, since I _knew_ I was gonna be winning this game!" he crowed, slamming his final two cards- one of which was Jay's two- down onto the table.

The various other Grunts groaned in disappointment, throwing their cards onto the table.

Ash, who was watching from the crack in the door, had had enough of this farce. Carefully, the trainer focused on each Rocket in the room, locking onto all of them at one time. Then, with a single thought, the sound of eight necks snapping filled the room. The corpses dropped in various positions, some slumping back in their chair or down to the table, while others fell to the floor. In the back of the room, a rolling chair clattered backwards, when the man who had been leaning backwards in said chair spasmed violently in the throes of death. The noise drew Ash's attention to something far more interesting than the dead man; the multiple monitors mounted on the wall.

They were obviously not security cameras, or the boy would have been met with resistance a long time ago, nor did he notice any cameras within the facility. Instead, the screens seemed to be showing things outside the small research facility. The outside of the Game Corner, the _inside_ of the Game Corner, the Celadon Department Store, and some street views. Overall, nothing too interesting, seemingly just a means of surveillance. These areas were likely either normally very populated, and the Rockets were watching for anyone that stood out, or they were very deserted, and the Grunts were watching for any suspicious characters trying to sneak about. Either way, it didn't matter to Ash, so he simply broke the monitors by throwing the fallen chair at them.

"I should check their wallets," Ash muttered to himself. He may have had access to a small bank account with money from Professor Oak via debit card (which he spent responsibly), but it was always nice to have some pocket change.

* * *

 **Never let it be said that Ash isn't pragmatic. I wonder, is he getting darker? Is this completely unexpected? Don't worry, he won't** _ **always**_ **be like this. Just, mostly. I got a fresh review from Kineil D. Wicks (which is what made me come back to this story) who didn't like how Ash was acting. Yes, he's a complete bastard. Yes, it's absolutely unjustified. Yes, he will be getting his ass kicked into gear eventually. That's all you're getting from me.**

 **K bai :D**


	11. Chapter 11

Overall, the stop in Celadon City had been fairly successful. Ash had obtained the Rainbow Badge, destroyed a Team Rocket research facility, and made about two-hundred bucks. Meanwhile, Sabrina had…

"What _is_ that?" Ash asked the woman, staring at the pink thing in her arms. Said woman refused to make eye contact.

"It was cute!" she cried defensively, squeezing the thing tighter to her chest.

"...Alright, but that doesn't explain what it is," Ash retorted. His eyes were half-lidded in exasperation.

"Oh. It's a Poké doll."

"Isn't that supposed to be used to escape from wild pokemon?" Ash asked, recalling something similar from his time with Professor Oak.

"Yeah, so?"

"You know what, forget it. We're done here. The next stop is Vermillion City, and if a wild pokemon rips that thing to shreds, don't come crying to me."

"Hmph, as if!" Sabrina replied haughtily, burying her face into the plush doll. She couldn't let the kid see how much she was smiling, after all.

* * *

"What do you mean, you won't fight me!?" Ash shouted, surprising Sabrina. She had never seen the trainer lose his temper like that; normally, if he was mad, he would threaten you with his psychic powers.

"It means exactly what it sounds like, punk. I ain't gonna fight ya, so long as ya have a weak Pikachu," Lt. Surge, the Gym Leader of Vermillion CIty, replied.

"Skybreaker can beat your ass anyday, you swine!" Ash yelled, small hands balled into tight fists. The pikachu on his shoulders was crackling dangerously, glaring at the human that dared to criticize him.

"Yeah, sure. Listen kid, take this here Thunderstone, and come back once you've got a raichu. I won't fight you 'till you use it." The camo-wearing man tossed a green crystal at Ash, who caught it reluctantly. If the man wanted to just _give_ him something like that, then there was no point in refusing it- he could just sell it later.

Growling, Ash turned on his heel and walked out of his gym, Sabrina following awkwardly.

"Remember, don't come back without using that stone, punk!"

Every glass bulb in the gym shattered, drowning the place in darkness.

* * *

"That fucker…" Ash muttered, pacing in the hotel room. Sabrina sat on her bed, watching him wear a trench into the carpet. She was idly fiddling with her plush Jigglypuff.

"Why don't you just evolve Sky? Even if you don't like it, he'll still be stronger."

"Absolutely not!" Ash roared, turning on a dime to face Sabrina. The majority of the furniture in the room leapt into the air, held there by Ash's psychic powers. "That bastard will _not_ get away with this! I'll- I'll kill him, and just take the badge! I don't _need_ to fight that son of a bitch, he probably can't even battle properly! He just needed some excuse to get me out of his face so he can run like a pussy!"

Sabrina leaned back in shock and fear, terrified that she had crossed some sort of line with her mindless comment. However, since she was still in complete control of her actions, she relaxed. Marginally.

"Um, are you _sure_ that's the best idea?" she asked hesitantly, attempting to hide behind her stuffed toy.

"No!" Ash shouted venomously, causing the poor woman to flinch. "I'm just too _pissed off_ to think of anything other than murdering that mareep-fucker!"

Sabrina was unsure how to respond, both to Ash's brutal honesty, and his disturbing insult. Instead, she just remained quiet, hoping that someone else would calm the boy down. With Skybreaker equally offended as his trainer, that monumentous task fell to Diorook.

The disembodied deoxys sighed heavily, then exerted control over his host. Considering he was the source of the trainer's psychic powers, it was fairly easy for the alien to wrench said powers away from the human, leaving him unable to move.

" _Ash, relax. We've already had this discussion; killing a Gym Leader will just cause more problems than it's worth,"_ the extraterrestrial explained in a soothing manner. Unfortunately, Ash did not wish to be soothed.

"I don't care! If anyone else comes after me, I'll kill them too!"

" _And when you are unable to complete your dream?"_

"Who said I have to do it in a legal way!? I'll just ambush the Champion!"

Dio sighed once more, realizing that Ash was too far gone at the moment. With a mental command, a bedsheet rose up and wrapped tightly around the boy, constricting his limbs. Then, he was lifted into the air, and hung upside-down. A bit more effort, and the boy's jaw was forcefully clamped shut, preventing him from spewing abuse loud enough for the neighbors to hear. That would be a mess to try and explain to the cops.

In the end, Ash was left wriggling about in midair, looking like an excessively demented, off-color sushi roll. Flame and vitriol was muffled into frantic grunting, his face turning red from the strain of trying to overpower his own psychic abilities.

Sabrina watched, horrifyingly amused. She had a feeling that even giggling would end poorly for her, but the woman could not control herself anymore than Ash could at the moment. Laughter bubbled up in her chest, spilling from her mouth loudly. The thrashing boy heard, and his head snapped to the side to glare at her. Further incensed at being made fun of, Ash began to flail even harder than before. Sabrina had to cover her face with her Poké Doll to avoid looking him in the eyes, or she would never stop laughing.

"You look like a caterpie!" she choked out, falling backwards onto her bed.

Ash would have retorted with a sharp insult, had he been able to talk. Instead, he settled for just glaring harder at the woman. He finally stopped struggling, out of breath and purple from the exertion.

" _Are you done?"_ Dio asked after a long silence, which was only disturbed by Sabrina's chortling. No response was given, so there was no confirmation, but also no denial. That was enough for the disembodied alien, and he finally let Ash go. The boy fell to the floor, not expecting to be released so suddenly. He immediately took hold of the blanket wrapped around him with his telekinesis, and attempted to yank it off. Unfortunately, since he had no clue how or where Dio had tied the damned thing, he simply made it worse.

With an aggravated sigh, Ash stopped his struggle. He laid on the carpeted floor for a moment, then shifted so he was looking at the still-smiling woman.

"A little… _Help_?" Ash asked bitterly, as if the very word burned his tongue.

Sabrina laid a dainty finger on her lips, pondering the request. "What's the magic word?"

"I will rip your spine out through your nose, woman! Don't fucking test me!" Ash shouted, then reached out with his mind to make good on his promise. Fortunately for Sabrina, she had a guardian angel, and the mental hold on her disappeared nearly instantly, so fast she thought she had imagined it.

" _Ash, we_ just _had this conversation; no killing gym leaders. For that matter, no killing anyone not on Team Rocket, unless they try to attack you first."_

Ash didn't reply, and Sabrina worked up enough courage to come a bit closer.

"So, what's the magic word?"

"... _Please_ , help me."

* * *

"What are you going to do?" Sabrina asked Ash, once the boy had calmed down.

"I'm going back to the gym, and I'll attack Surge until he fights me," Ash replied bluntly.

"But didn't Dio _just_ -?"

"Beating him into a coma is different from killing him."

" _I have a better idea,"_ Dio told the two psychics, exasperated at Ash's penchant for violence. " _Why don't we perform a little experiment?"_

Ash was visibly confused. "Experiment on what?"

" _Skybreaker's evolution. Of course, this could fail, and result in him simply becoming a raichu, but either way, the Thunderstone will be used, and you can fight Surge."_

"Dio, that's the complete _opposite_ of the point. We aren't supposed to give in to that pineapple-head."

" _It isn't_ giving in _, it's simply… Compromising."_

"Also wrong."

Diorook sighed, annoyed with the boy now. " _Just get the Thunderstone, you idiot."_

* * *

"You're _sure_ this will work?"

" _No. Hence why I called it an_ experiment _. Now, get ready to concentrate the energy at the places I pointed out."_

"The cheek sacs and the tail, right?"

" _Right. Sky, are you ready?"_ Dio asked the electric mouse.

" _Ready as I can be, considering I don't know what the heck's going on,"_ Skybreaker replied, slightly irritated.

" _I've explained this to you_ three times… _Forget it, just touch the Thunderstone."_

Sky complied, leaning forward and placing a yellow paw on the green crystal. He erupted in a white light, transforming into a miniature star.

" _Sabrina, separate the energy! Ash, keep them apart!"_

The woman used her precise mental abilities to form a razor thin blade of psychic energy, directing it to cut the evolutionary energy in half, while Ash used his superior strength to keep them from simply recombining.

" _Alright, Ash, push them now!"_

Ash shoved with all his considerable might, compressing the halves of energy into the predetermined parts of the pikachu's anatomy. The white glow covering Skybreaker began to recede, exposing his yellow midsection. Ash heaved a sigh of relief, glad that it wasn't the white and orange of a raichu.

" _Concentrate, fool!"_ Dio shouted in his mind, startling the boy from his musings. Ash realized he had, indeed, been slipping, and Sky's round stomach was almost covered back up in the brightness. With a grunt of effort, Ash pushed the separate energy back apart, then went further, containing them to Sky's tail and cheek sacs. Once only those two parts of the mouse were glowing brightly, Ash stopped pushing, simply holding it in place, and allowed the energy to do it's work.

Within moments, the light grew too bright to look at, and the two psychics were forced to look away. Ash was careful, however, too not lose his grip on his powers for even a nanosecond.

Once the light, which had still been showing through his eyelids, dimmed, Ash looked back at his first, and only pokemon. He was stunned at what he saw.

Sky's body looked mostly the same. His cheek sacs, which were previously red, were now impossible to spot, since they were the same yellow as his skin. Things got odd, however, when one looked at the pikachu's tail. There were two of them now, both different from his old tail, and also different from each other.

The first tail looked like a normal raichu tail, with its long black stem, and a yellow lightning-bolt shaped end, the same shade as Sky's skin. It seemed to have wickedly sharp edges, which filled Ash with a sadistic giddiness. The other tail had a brown stem, and the lightning-bolt end was a lighter shade of yellow, with rounder, almost fluffy, edges.

"Was that supposed to happen?"

* * *

"Surge! I'm back, and I'm gonna kick your ass!" Ash shouted the instant he walked into the Vermillion Gym. It was a day later, since Skybreaker had to get used to moving around with two tails, and to get a feel for how much electricity he could store/generate with his new and improved cheek sacs. It was… A lot, to say the least.

Lt. Surge, who had been leaning against a wall in the back of the gym and watching two of the trainers duke it out, glanced up. He scoffed at the boy. "I told you to come back with a raichu, kid, and _that_ -" he pointed at Sky, riding on Ash's shoulder, "Is not a raichu. Are you stupid or something?"

"No, but I think _you_ are. I distinctly remember you saying not to come back without using the Thunderstone, and I did, so I'm back," Ash responded confidently, crossing his arms in defiance.

"Oh really, now? If you're so sure, then where's the Light Ball that the used-up stone left behind?" Surge asked, sure that the kid would turn into a blustering mess trying to think up a clever lie.

"You mean this thing?" Ash pulled a palm-sized orb out of the pocket of his cargo pants. It was a transparent yellow, with a white core and lightning-shaped streaks on the inside.

Surge's eyes bugged out when he recognized the item in the kid's hand. That was definitely a Light Ball, but the pokemon on shoulder was obviously still a pikachu, meaning…

"You think you're clever, don't ya kid? It's obvious you used the Thunderstone on another pokemon, so it looks like you're just outta luck. I refuse to fight a weak pikachu." Surge bared his teeth in a vicious smile, enjoying his victory in this match, despite the fact that it was over such a stupid thing.

Rather than reply, the boy just patted his pokemon on his flank. With a squeak of affirmation, the electric mouse leaped up into the air, landing halfway between his trainer and the gym leader, tails waving idly.

"Wha-!" Surge cried, so astounded by the impossibility of the sight in front of him that he took a step back. "How the heck did you-!? What did you _do_!?" the man shouted, pointing at his would-be challenger.

"Magic, bitch. Now, you've got ten seconds to call out your pokemon, or Sky here will fry you to a crisp. Ten, nine…"

"A-Alright, Voltorb, get out here and show this brat why he should just leave the battling to a _real_ man!"

Surge clicked the button a pokeball he plucked off his belt, and out came what looked like another pokeball, but with glaring eyes. "Voltorb, use Defense Curl, then Rollout!"

The pokeball look-alike was surrounded by a faint green glow, and then began to roll at Sky at a breakneck pace. However, the pikachu didn't move, not even when his opponent was less than five feet away. Instead, he activated Iron Tail on his sharp tail, then slammed it downwards onto the approaching opponent. Using the increase length of the stem, the pikachu didn't have to spin like he did previously, making the movement look effortless.

Immediately, all of Voltorb's forward momentum was arrested, and the pokemon itself was slammed through the gym floor, creating a small crater. Skybreaker seemed to hardly notice what he did, simply staring unrelentlessly at the gym leader.

"You little _rat_ ," Surge muttered through gritted teeth. He returned his unconscious pokemon without a word, then pulled out another pokeball. "Electrode, get out here!"

The new pokemon looked very similar to the previously, except with inverted colors; the top was white, while the bottom was red. This one also had a mouth, which was grinning dementedly.

"Use-!"

Surge was unable to complete his command, because Sky rocketed forwards at an incredible speed, using multiple Agilities and Quick Attack. The distance between them, a good twenty to thirty feet, was closed near-instantly, and an Iron Tail finished off Electrode a heartbeat later.

By now, the Gym Leader was apoplectic with rage, his face a severe shade of purple. He no longer seemed capable of speech, since he wordlessly switched his electrode for a raichu. The larger mouse was released so that it stood right in front of Skybreaker, glaring down at its pre-evolutionary form. That was until it noticed the pikachu's tails.

The raichu looked panicked, glancing between Surge and Sky nervously. Surge just glared at his pokemon, and the orange mouse seemed to calm itself. It adopted a serious pose, hands on its indistinct hips, and returned to glaring at his opponent.

"Raichu, this punk seems to like Iron Tail, so why don't you show it a real one!?"

"Chu!" the orange mouse cried, tail taking on a silvery glint. It took a step forward, then swung. Unfortunately for the raichu, its tail was caught by Sky's own fluffy one. In an amazing show of dexterity, the pikachu's wrapped tightly around his opponent's, then yanked on it slightly, causing Raichu to lose its balance. Taking advantage of his foe's flailing, Sky used his free tail to slam an Iron Tail right into Raichu's face. It would have gone flying, if he didn't have a grip on its tail.

Using that grip, Sky yanked the raichu back to him, then smashed another Iron Tail into its round stomach. This time, he let go, and the pokemon went flying into Surge, who was unprepared to have his most powerful subordinate be turned into a projectile. The two were sent to the floor.

"Wha… What just…?" Surge mumbled, staring down at the K.O'd raichu lying on him. A white-and-black sneaker entered his peripheral vision, causing the army man to look up at its owner. Ash was standing over the man, staring down at him with an empty gaze.

"Where's my badge?"

* * *

 **Surge kinda confuses me, as do other people who fit the same cliché/archetype as him; the warrior/soldier, who** _ **should**_ **have incredible discipline, but acts like a complete brat. How was the battle? I figured an absolutely ruthless and unforgiving beatdown was something a person like Surge deserved.**

 **Show of hands, who expected what happened to Skybreaker? The second tail is a result of the isolation of the 'evolutionary energy'. That stuff is what causes the pokemon's entire body to bulk up, so when it was compressed like that, there was enough to turn a pikachu tail into a raichu tail, and then some left over. As for why it's the Alolan Raichu tail, that's due to the interference of psychic energy. Should I give Sky the ability to communicate with anyone now, since he's technically a psychic type now? Similarly to how a second tail was grown, the cheek sacs were upgraded much more drastically than normal, but that obviously wasn't seen in this chapter.**

 **Ash was pretty volatile this chapter, but then again, it's very rare that some stupid shit like that happens, so I believe it's justified.**


	12. Chapter 12

After three days on the road, Ash felt like seeing more than an endless amount of trees everywhere he looked. That's why he and Sabrina stopped in Lavender Town. Now, though, Ash was thankful he did, because it seemed like Team Rocket was occupying the place.

It wasn't hard to spot them. There was an entire squad of them standing right outside the large tower, which happened to be one of about six buildings in the entire town (though the word town was a bit of an exaggeration). Honestly, it would have been much more difficult to miss them than not, and anyone that did was probably blind.

"Sabrina, go check into the Pokemon Center. I'm gonna find out what these clowns are doing here," Ash told his companion.

The woman was a bit hesitant, despite knowing that Ash would likely be able to take better care of himself than her. The boy noticed, and reached over with lightning speed. His hand latched onto her uncovered side, and his fingers began wiggling wildly. Sabrina shrieked at the suddenness, nearly leaping in an attempt to get away from him. She rubbed at her side, sending a glare at the boy whose hand was still outstretched.

"Next time, I won't let go," Ash promised the woman, and she shuddered. With great haste, Sabrina turned on her heel, fleeing to the Pokemon Center. She knew the drill by now; when Ash sent her away, she was to _stay_ away. He didn't like being interrupted.

Meanwhile, Ash began to walk over to the large tower. He paused right in front of the four Grunts guarding the entrance, and simply stared at them. Nobody spoke for a long while, but it was obvious that the Grunts were becoming increasingly nervous, if their shifting glances and awkward movements were anything to go by. Ash was quite surprised, since normally Grunts tended to be quite confrontational. They must have been ordered to nothing except prevent access to the tower, which did not include starting conversation with snot-nosed brats and their pikachu.

If they were acting under orders, though, there must be something important in there, possibly along with a higher-up, since there needed to be _someone_ to do the ordering around. Ash was debating interrogating the black-clad people, but there was quite a high chance that they knew nothing. Nobody with sense entrusted critical information to foot-soldiers, just in case of people like Ash. He would gather information from the town residents (of which there were likely less than ten), _then_ interrogate the Rocket Grunts for confirmation.

That decided, he turned around and walked away, towards the Pokemon Center. He pretended that he didn't hear the collective sigh of relief behind him.

* * *

"Excuse me, what is that large tower?" Ash asked the Nurse Joy stationed behind the main desk of the Pokemon Center. The woman blinked in confusion, and then realized what he was referring to.

"Ah, that would be Lavender Town's Pokemon Tower, though many people have started calling it the Ghost Tower. It's a graveyard for deceased pokemon, and there are rumors that their ghosts haunt the tower; hence, the Ghost Tower," Nurse Joy explained solemnly. Talking about the death of pokemon seemed to be uncomfortable to her, which made sense, considering her job was to save said pokemon. How many of the graves in that tower were occupied by the failures of this woman?

"Why are those people blocking the entrance, then?"

"Nobody really knows, but it doesn't look good. They showed up about a week ago, carrying a lot of machinery, and threatening anyone that tried to enter to visit their pokemon's graves. Most of us are scared that they'll aggravate the ghosts in the tower, and bring ruin to the town."

Ash took a moment to process this. Ghosts were real- how else would _Ghost-type_ pokemon exist (not that many people knew of them)?- and they tended to be unpredictable. It was possible that, should they be disturbed, the numerous ghosts of the tower would escape and attack the town. Of course, Ash didn't particularly care about that; it was more of an idle thought. He was more concerned with something else.

"Would you happen to know if there was anyone amongst that group that looked important? Such as being dressed differently?"

"Now that you mention it… Yes, I do recall seeing a man wearing an orange suit with them. I don't know who he was, or if he is still here, but he was with them at one point."

That was all Ash needed to know. He was looking for someone wearing a unique uniform, but this was even better. A person who was in an organization with uniforms, and _didn't_ wear the uniform, was obviously important enough that they could away with it. Normally, though, that was only the leader, since even the highest of the higher-ups were expected to follow the leader's orders, and if that included wearing a uniform, then they would damn well wear a uniform. Only a person above the rules would dare to ignore them in an organization as ruthless as Team Rocket, and only the person who made the rules was above them.

"Thank you for your time,"Ash said monotonously, then walked out of the Center, not even bothering to listen to Nurse Joy's parting words.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Ash asked the group of Rocket Grunts. They were the same ones as before, since his conversation with Nurse Joy hadn't taken more than five minutes. Nobody said anything, and Ash's eyebrow twitched. He exerted a bit of his psychic powers, forcing the four to their knees.

" _Don't ignore me_ ," he said quietly, utterly terrifying the Grunts in front of him. "Now, I'll ask one more time; What are you doing here?"

"Y-You won't get nothin' from me!" one of the braver men cried. Ash stared at him for a while, then patted Sky on the side. The pikachu jumped from his trainer's shoulder to the Grunt's. He rubbed his fluffy tail up against the man's face, to distract him from the hardening of his sharp tail. Then, with one quick motion, the edge of the sharp tail sailed through his neck, separating the man's head from his body. The other Rocket Grunts watched in horror as their comrade's decapitated skull fell to the ground, then rolled to a stop next to Ash's foot. Then, the blood started spraying.

"I'll ask again; what are you doing here?"

"The, the boss wants Ghost Pokemon, and he said that machine of his is gonna help somehow- he never told us how! I swear, that's all I know!" another Grunt cried, pupils dilated in absolute terror. Ash looked at the other two grunts- now covered in blood- who were nodding vigorously. Ash nodded back at them, then snapped their necks in an instant. The corpses were left in front of the tower entrance, while Ash went inside.

* * *

The inside of the tower was eerily quiet. No wind blew, light was provided by weak lanterns on the wall, and Ash could see no movement. The only sound he could hear was that of his and Skybreaker's breathing, and the blood rushing in his ears.

Ash walked forward warily, careful to not step on any graves, lest the inhabitant's ghost come seeking revenge. His psychic powers may work on them, but the thought of duking it out with a dead rattata was oddly disturbing. Fortunately, his deliberate path kept him from waking any spirits, and the trainer continued his way up the tower peacefully. Until the sixth floor, which was absolutely _crawling_ with Rocket Grunts.

The group, as if one, looked at him in shock. Apparently, these ones were more competent than the others, because they instantly went for their pokeballs. Out came a plethora of admittedly unimpressive pokemon; zubats, geodudes, rattata, and pidgeys. There was the occasional caterpie as well. No signal was needed for Skybreaker to leap into action, zigzagging around, trailing the white streak of a Quick Attack. In his wake, he left a pile of unconscious pokemon and crushed bones, courtesy of his Iron Tail. Those on the opposite side of the floor were zapped with a Thunder, which came much easier to the pikachu after his impromptu evolution.

A minute had yet to pass before the squad of grunts went down. Most of them didn't even have a chance to call out a command to their pokemon, and others were interrupted mid-order. Sky sat on top of a gravestone, tails flicking around cheerily behind him. The mouse squeaked at Ash, who walked towards the stairs, and ascended to the seventh, and apparently final, floor.

True to Nurse Joy's words, there was a man in an orange suit there. He had his back turned to the stairs, focused more on the machine in front of him. Said machine was emitting a buzz of changing frequencies, dropping low with bass then rising high enough to shatter glass. The suited man was either deaf, or entirely absorbed in his work, because he gave no indication of discomfort. Instead, he was fiddling with some of the controls, likely manually controlling the noise-producer. The boy, on the other hand, winced a bit whenever the pitch rose above average human hearing.

Ash cleared his throat, arms crossed over his chest. He schooled his face into a mask of calm, ignoring the ringing in his ears. It wouldn't do to show weakness in front of someone that was probably as vicious as a shark in bloody water.

"What? Didn't I tell you fools not to disturb me?" the man asked. When no answer greeted him for the better part of a minute, the man sighed heavily, and finally turned around. "You better have a damned good… Oh."

He was clearly not expecting an eleven-year-old kid to be bothering him- not when he had more than twenty Grunts around to stop this exact sort of thing.

"Are you the leader of Team Rocket?" Ash asked bluntly, not caring for formalities at the moment. Orange-Suit's eyes widened, before a malicious grin overtook his face.

"Yes, I am. Mind telling me how you figured that out?"

"Nobody would break the dress code, unless they had the power to."

The man raised a square eyebrow. "Well, that's an odd train of thought, even if it _is_ correct. What would you have done if you were wrong, though?"

"That doesn't matter, since I wasn't. Now, you die."

With that lovely farewell, Ash reached out with his psychic powers, took hold of the man, and twisted his neck like it was a vortex.

At least, he _tried_ to. Instead, all that happened was the man's head twitching a bit to the side. Both males stared at each other in confusion, before Orange-Suit smiled once more.

"A psychic, eh? Well, good thing I've got _this._ " He rolled up his left suit sleeve, revealing a shiny black watch. "Psywave inhibitor- good luck overcoming it. It's built for something with _much_ stronger abilities than you."

Ash scowled furiously. He tapped Sky on the side, and the electric mouse leapt at the Rocket. Halfway to him, however, the pikachu was intercepted by a silhouette of red light, which solidified into a nidoking. The purple juggernaut grabbed hold of the mouse, squeezing tightly with its claws. Sky cried out in pain, crackling dangerously. Unfortunately, Nidoking was much stronger than Brock's onix, and Sky was unable to overcome its ground typing.

With a throaty roar, the drill pokemon slammed his foe into the tower floor hard enough to go through it, sending the mouse to the sixth floor. The building shook once more when Nidoking stomped on the floor, sending itself down to keep the pikachu company.

Ash watched on, wide-eyed, as his pokemon was man-handled like a ragdoll.

Orange-Suit sighed. "Kids these days, think they're so invincible. I guess this is the first time you've ever seen your pokemon take a beating like this? Don't worry- it'll only get worse," he said, grinning viciously. He grabbed another shrunken pokeball from his pocket, enlarging and then opening it. Out came what looked like a blue version of Nidoking, but upon closer examination, was revealed to be a Nidoqueen.

"Take care of this brat, Nidoqueen," Orange-Suit ordered. He turned back to the machine, resuming his tinkering.

The hulking monster roared at Ash, then charged forward. Ash attempted to hold the beast back with his psychic powers, which worked for all of five seconds, before Nidoqueen overpowered his mind and continued on its way. The boy, dizzy from the backlash, was unable to move in time to avoid the shoulder that the blue drill pokemon rammed into him, sending him into the wall. A crater formed on impact, and Ash remained stuck in the hole for a good few seconds. Just as the world stopped spinning, and his vision was restored, a clawed fist filled it, punching the boy through the remainder of the wall. He fell the fifty or so feet to the ground with increasing speed, making a thunderous sound on impact.

Ash groaned in pain, thanking Arceus that Diorook had reinforced his bones to the strength of steel all those years ago, or he would have been a fine red mist at the moment. Also that he drank a lot milk. Lots and lots of milk.

Ash struggled to sit up, a hand on his aching chest, and looked at the hole in the Pokemon Tower that he had created. Peering back at him was the nidoqueen, who roared loudly, It kept its mouth open, creating an orange ball of light. The orb charged for a few seconds, growing brighter with each passing moment.

Realizing what was about to happen, Ash scrambled to his feet, then launched himself into the air. Using his psychic powers, he was able to stay there, narrowly avoiding the Hyper Beam which almost blasted a hole through him.

So focused was he on the beam was he, that Ash didn't notice the torn up earth glowing brown. Large clumps of dirt and rock, the size of cars, were hardened into boulders and then slammed into Ash from all sides, creating a floating Rock Tomb. A few sharp edges pierced his skin, while the sheer pressure being exerted on him made breathing a struggle, regardless of the fact that he no longer had lungs. A few bones were broken, some of which included his ribs, and Ash nearly passed out from the pain.

At this point, Diorook took over, commanding their shared psychic power to create a dense bubble around the boy, keeping the Rock Tomb from flattening him into a pancake. The alien struggled with this for what seemed like hours, until the stones finally fell away, revealing the blue sky once more. Unable to exert himself anymore, Dio had to let Ash fall to the ground, ten feet down. The dazed trainer let out a half-hearted groan of pain, and finally succumbed to his injuries.

Unconsciousness was such a sweet release

* * *

 **Poor baby got his ass handed to him on a silver platter. After all, not** _ **everything**_ **can be easy. His arrogance needs to be quelled, and this fight just may do the trick. No promises, though. If not this one, then definitely another one down the road.**


End file.
